“Fake News” is a term that does not have one definite meaning. Its definition is fluid depending on who is using it to describe news coverage, says an assembled team of experts.
Spectrum brought together a veteran journalist, a scholar in the fields of communication and education, and a media executive with 30 years of experience in public broadcasting to dissect the topic of “Fake News” and what it means.
Allison Hunter is currently the Editor-In-Chief of WOUB News. Over her career she has had experience in both commercial and public broadcasting. She has produced award-winning news programming in the major markets of Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles as well as the smaller markets of Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Hunter also currently co-hosts a news related podcast #457SEO.
Dr. Scott Titsworth has been the Dean of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University since 2009. The Scripps College consists of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism, the School of Media Arts and Studies, the School of Visual Communication, the School of Communication Studies and the J. Warren McClure School of Information and Telecommunication Systems.
Dr. Titsworth has an international reputation as a top scholar in the area of classroom communication effectiveness. He also hosts a nationally distributed podcast called “Teaching Matters” where he examines the unique needs of students in the 21st Century and the “Technological Age.”
Mark Brewer is the General Manager of WOUB Public Media. He is an experienced media executive with over 30 years in public broadcasting in Ohio, Minnesota, and Texas. He currently manages six public radio stations, six public television stations, social media, and an online news service.
All agree that the term “Fake News” is used by those who want to denigrate the news product either by claiming that the “event” never happened or that news reports have the facts wrong – thereby leading to a mistaken public impression.
If the term only was used to describe mainstream media, the panel, concurs that it would be easier to counteract the idea of falsity with greater media transparency and openness. However, the problem of “Fake News” is exacerbated by social media and the myriad of bots, trolls, fake news sites dedicated to distributing false reports.
In short, legitimate news is diluted and polluted by truly fake news that is generated by those who wish to advance a position or destroy someone else’s position.
“Fake News” needs to be counteracted by accurate reporting and complete transparency on how a story is resourced and produced. Openness counteracts the assertion of falsity, the panel says.

This month the civil war in Syria will enter its eighth year of fighting. More than 400,000 have been killed, nearly 1 million injured and over one-third of the nation’s infrastructure has been destroyed, says Dr. Bassam Haddad, an expert on Syria.
Millions have been displaced from their homes and other countries have felt the glut of millions of Syrian refugees fleeing the fighting.
What started as an internal civil war in 2011 against the dictatorship of President Bashar a-Assad has become a cauldron of international intervention. In addition to the United States and Russia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have been involved in supporting one side or the other. Hezbollah also has been involved along with ISIS who, at one time, controlled 45 percent of the country, Dr. Haddad notes.
ISIS took control of much of the northern and eastern parts of Syria in 2013 in an effort to establish its own caliphate. But, ISIS was finally routed from their territory by a military coalition after fierce battles. ISIS now holds only limited portions of the rural countryside, Dr. Haddad says.
At the eight year mark of the Syrian struggles, the country still faces internal political unrest, external interventions, battles between Turkey and the Kurds and a massive task to rebuild the physical part of the country and infrastructure destroyed by war.
Dr. Haddad talks to Spectrum about all of these issues. He puts the conflicts into historical context from the beginning of the uprisings and discusses the current challenges facing this war-weary nation.
Dr. Haddad is a scholar, a teacher, an author, and a documentary film-maker. His second book is provisionally titled “Understanding the Syrian Tragedy: Regime, Opposition and Outsiders” to be published by Stanford University Press.
He also has been the co-producer/director of the award winning documentary film, “About Baghdad” and he also directed the acclaimed film, “Arabs and Terrorism.”

Clean“Black Girls Matter”- Study Shows Black Middle School Girls Get Disciplined More Often than White Students

Students of color, students who don’t know English well and LGBTQ students are “vastly over-represented among students who face school disciplinary actions,” says Dr. Lisa Harrison and Dr. Theda Gibbs-Grey of the Patton College of Education at Ohio University.
This has led Dr. Harrison and Dr. Gibbs-Grey to launch a research study called “Black Girls Matter: Exploring the School Experiences of Middle School Black Girls Who Have Experienced School Suspensions.”
Discipline rates of Black girls far exceed those of white girls in the same classes.
“Instead of finding understanding, they get discipline,” says Dr. Harrison. This can have life-long impacts and contribute to high drop-out rates.
Harrison and Gibbs-Grey currently are following the progress of eight middle school Black girls at an Ohio school. They are conducting “school observations, interviews with the girls and their parents, as well as documenting their school disciplinary records,” Dr. Gibbs-Grey noted.
“We are also providing a year-long mentorship program that meets with the girls once per week for the school year,” Gibbs-Grey added.
The research has found school structures that work and those that don’t.
The researchers have found systems that need restructuring “to prevent negative academic and life outcomes for the girls locally and nationally who deserve much more,” according to Gibbs-Grey.
The two researchers hope to institute national and local changes in “school discipline and academic success among students who are marginalized.” They currently are in the seventh month of a year-long study.
Dr. Theda Gibbs-Grey has her doctorate in Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education with a specialization in Language and Literacy and Urban Education from Michigan State University.
Dr. Harrison has her doctorate from the University of Georgia in Middle School Education

Russia intended to support candidates against Hillary Clinton- the object of Vladimir Putin’s hatred, says expert on Russia, Dr. Steven Miner, scholar, author and professor in the Contemporary History Institute of Ohio University.
Russia also intended to disrupt American politics and social systems leading up to and after the 2016 Presidential Election, says Miner after perusing the 35 pages of indictments filed February 16 by United States Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The Russians intended to cause discord and chasms within the United States and Miner says they have been successful.
The indictments accuse 13 Russians, who infiltrated the United States with special agents, of illegal activities surrounding the 2016 Election and three Russian companies who helped illegally finance the espionage.
Some American experts have called this infiltration an act of war. Dr. Miner calls the operation acts of aggression. He agrees that the Russians have and will continue to breed chaos within the American systems and with the American public unless stopped by Congress or the Trump Administration.
Some five days after the indictments were made public, Dr. Miner is surprised that President Donald Trump has not condemned the Russian activities or done anything overtly to stop Russian meddling.
Trump also has not imposed sanctions against Russia for past election interference. Those sanctions earlier were passed by Congress by overwhelming margins.
Many, including Dr. Miner, are surprised with Trump’s apparent indifference to the Russian aggression and his lack of any coherent policy to counteract Russian interference.
Dr. Miner is an international expert and specialist in recent Russia/Soviet and East European history. He also is an award winning author. He just completed writing a book called “The Furies Unleashed: The Soviet People at War, 1941-1945.”

Often Appalachian natives decry the “drive by journalists” from big cities that come to small Appalachia towns just to capture pictures and depictions of poverty, unemployment, drug addiction and squalid and trashy living conditions.
They come, stay for a day or two, take pictures of the most decrepit conditions and human devastation, conduct a few interviews and then leave painting the whole region with the same brush of destitution.
The same criticisms have been levied by some against the recent book, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, written by J. D. Vance.
Michael Clay Carey, a former journalist and current assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at Samford University in Birmingham Alabama, instead thinks that local news media in Appalachian towns often ignore poverty and local social ills to the detriment of their citizenry.
They generally don’t report about poverty, economic or health issues, because they don’t want people to think that they are exploiting stereotypes, according to Carey in his new book, The News Untold: Community Journalism and the Failure to Confront Poverty in Appalachia.
However, in a study of three small towns in the Appalachian region, Carey found that by ignoring major indigenous problems that the local media, in fact, do perpetuate stereotypes. Ignoring the issues makes it more difficult to truly isolate the problems and discuss viable solutions.
Ignoring economic need can make it more difficult to find permanent economic solutions and be less vulnerable to “boom or bust” industries, Carey notes.
Instead of less coverage of problems, Carey proposes more coverage by local media.
“Critical and inclusive news coverage of poverty at the local level can help communities start to look past stereotypes and attitudes, and encourage solutions that incorporate broader sets of community voices,” Carey writes.
Before returning for his graduate work, Carey spent more than a decade as a small town reporter and editor. He now “researches the impacts of stereotypes and the roles media play in the formation and maintenance of individual and group identity,” according to his biography

The news in Washington D.C. regarding the investigation of the Trump campaign for possible conspiracy with Russians in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice on the part of the President is roiling.
According to Philip Ewing, National Security Editor for National Public Radio (NPR), the news comes at such a rapid pace that all journalists are scrambling to keep up with the latest developments and skirmishes.
Ewing, in this edition of “Spectrum,” attempts to bring us up-to-date on the latest moves by the parties and gives us perspective behind the Washington headlines we read and hear each day.
Most recently we have had attacks on the FBI and the Department of Justice by the White House. Meanwhile, some Republicans in Congress are raising questions about the investigative techniques used by the FBI.
These accusations of wrong-doing on the part of law enforcement are clearly part of President Trump’s defense strategy to ward off any potential damage from the Robert Mueller investigation, says Ewing.
That attack concept also has permeated the Republican side of the House Intelligence Committee chaired by Republican Devin Nunes. Last week, he released a memorandum claiming to outline improprieties by the FBI and the Justice Department in obtaining a warrant from a special court to secretly listen to conversations of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
The memorandum was unclassified by President Trump and released to the public and the media last Friday by the House Committee prompting the Democrats to seek to release their own 10 page memorandum contra to the GOP missive, according to Ewing.
On Monday, Feb. 5th, the House Intelligence Committee unanimously sent the Democratic memorandum to President Trump for a decision whether to declassify its contents. The President has five days to decide whether to declassify all or part of the memorandum. We await his decision.
Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, President Trump’s lawyers are advising him not to voluntarily submit to an interview with Mueller’s team for fear of possible perjury, Ewing adds.
As the “Battle of the Memos” goes on in Congress, other matters in Washington are getting limited attention. For example, the deadline for passing a federal spending bill elapses this week. Although Ewing says that he does not expect another government shut-down, some in Congress are working feverishly to come up with solutions to the funding impasse.
Also, this week President Trump refused to impose new sanctions on the Russians. This refusal is in direct contradiction to the wishes of Congress. Congress, by an overwhelming majority in both Houses, mandated the President to impose new sanctions against Russia. The President refused and that issue is now at an impasse between the White House and Congress.

The days of video or computer games being just for the entertainment of a small segment of our population are over.
The gaming industry is exploding and developing beyond the confines of simple games into applications for healthcare, rehabilitation, education and even finance.
The business of gaming is worth over a $100 billion globally per year. Games bring in more money that music and movies combined, says Chris Volpe, entrepreneur and CEO of Multivarious Games headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
Volpe is also the co-founder of the Ohio Game Developer Association, a group designed to bring more gaming business to the heartland. Volpe says that the Midwest is perfect for start-up game development companies.
As more and more people become internet connected at younger ages, Volpe says that developers need to take advantage of this “opportunity for growth.”
Volpe notes that the average age of a gamer is 36 and a game purchaser is 40 years old. He also says that 42 percent of gamers are female. It is no longer just a teenage phenomenon.
Volpe also sees videogames as a storytelling medium. This is especially true of new Virtual Reality technologies being developed and explored.
Because the technology and game methodology are growing so fast, Volpe says that being a game developer is like operating in the historic “Wild West” where there are few rules or limitations and there are major opportunities.
Volpe’s company is working especially closely with healthcare professionals to provide therapeutic games. Recently, Multivarious Games produced a game for Nationwide Children’s Hospital to help children with muscular dystrophy.

Some observers characterize politics as a game…a sport where there are game plans, strategies, and winners and losers on almost a daily basis.
And, often the news media cover politics as if it were a sporting competition with play-by-play descriptions and color analysis.
Such was the case during the most recent three-day federal shutdown over the spending resolution– a battle between Democrats and Republicans and a battle between the White House and the Senate.
Terminology mimicked sports coverage. Was it the “Schumer Shutdown” or the “Trump Shutdown?” When it was resolved, did the Democrats “cave” or “choke” or did they “win” concessions from the GOP?
While the news media concentrate on covering the “game” of politics, stories about how the shutdown impacted average Americans in the heartland went untold, according to Andrew Alexander, former Washington Post ombudsman and former Washington bureau chief for Cox Newspapers.
Often the media report from a limited perspective or from a Washington D.C. point of view and ignore the ramifications of governmental actions on average Americans. Media does a good job of describing the impacts of actions for the coasts – Washington, New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco but too often ignore the heartland, where the bulk of President Trump’s base reside, Alexander said.
Alexander is a veteran of covering governmental shutdowns since back when House Speaker Newt Gingrich shut down the government during the Bill Clinton Administration in the 1990s.
Alexander is a former Washington Post ombudsman, a former Washington Bureau chief for Cox Newspapers and an award winning veteran journalist with more than four decades of experience.
During his career, he reported from more than 50 countries and directed major news coverage both domestically and internationally.
Alexander also serves on the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists – This group assists journalists who have been subjected to attacks, arrests and harassment worldwide.
He noted that during the first year of the Trump presidency that the media are encountering, for the first time, a President who by-passes reporters to deliver constituent messages directly through social media. This has left some media confused about how to cover those messages and the President himself – sometimes facing false leads or being misdirected from the “real news.”
Alexander, however, calls some of the investigative reporting done by news organizations to uncover stories of this President’s activities and falsehoods – “magnificent.”
Overall, however, Alexander is deeply concerned about the attacks of this Administration against the First Amendment and freedoms of speech and press. He believes our citizenry needs to be better informed about the fragility of those rights and take appropriate actions to protect them.

Clean20 Ways to Fight Tyranny In the USA in Book by Historian & Holocaust Expert

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by news daily pouring out of Washington D.C. and the White House that you find confusing, depressing or just plain outrageous?
Do you think that our democracy is in jeopardy by threats being made by the President and other governmental officials against free speech and civil liberties? Do you begin or end your day full of anger or rage at what our government has become?
Do you feel frustrated thinking, as an individual, that you can do nothing to counteract the tide of authoritarianism projected from the Oval Office?
Well, if you do, then you need to read “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” written by noted historian and Holocaust expert Dr. Timothy Snyder. This book is directed toward the average person and it outlines 20, very doable, things that individuals can do to protect democracy in America.
This New York Times best seller is only 128 pages and it is written in the form of a political pamphlet – like those distributed during our country’s early history, according to Dr. Snyder.
The book talks about the importance of “language” that we use in our daily discourse. “Freedom begins with language,” Snyder says. He also notes that authoritarian leaders also try to manipulate our language by repeating the same phrases over and over until they have become ingrained in our vernacular. He cites phrases like “Fake News” and “No Collusion” as examples.
He also cites the need, as a democracy, that we have for truth and he is concerned about how “truth” is often obfuscated by political rhetoric, talking points and purposeful clouding of facts by governmental officials.
Dr. Snyder also suggests that we get out of our Internet bubbles and echo chambers and actually talk with people face-to-face instead of always relying on others to formulate our opinions for us from media, governmental and political rhetoric.
If one follows the 20 steps outlined in this book, then democracy could be preserved and we could avoid an authoritarian takeover of our country, according to Snyder.
Our democracy is fragile, he says, and we, as individuals, must work diligently to protect it.
Dr. Snyder is the Levin Professor of history at Yale University. He also is a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
Besides, “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the 20th Century”, he has written several other award-winning books. He wrote “Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin” that won 12 awards including the Emerson Prize in Humanities. He also wrote “Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning.”

CleanTrump Consumed with Rage Over “Fire and Fury” Book Says West Wing Journo

President Donald Trump is obsessed with and enraged by Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” book that describes Trump and the West Wing in most unflattering terms, according to Philip Elliott, a Washington correspondent for TIME. The President can’t let it go.
It has consumed more than a week of Trump’s time and the ire doesn’t seem to be abating, according to Elliott.
The book also has uncovered a significant split between Trump and his once top political strategist Steve Bannon. Bannon was the named source on numerous unflattering depictions of Trump and his family members.
Meanwhile, as controversy over the book swirls, President Trump is advancing an “unsettling” foreign policy with provocative nuclear Tweets directed toward North Korea, cutting off some aid to Pakistan, designating Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and jumping to the verbal support of Iranian protestors.
Simultaneously, his State Department is gravely understaffed and morale is at rock bottom, says Elliott.
If this was not enough controversy, the federal government is facing another potential government shutdown if a budget or another continuing resolution is not passed by mid-January.
Also, while all of this is happening, Trump political opponent and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney will likely run for the U.S. Senate seat from Utah and 39 Republican members of the House of Representatives have decided not to seek re-election, Elliott adds.
Finally, the President is also facing an extensive interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller or his staff within the next few weeks. This interview could go a long way in charting the legal course that Mueller will take visa vie legal action against the President and/or his staff members and family.
Spectrum discusses all of these issues with Elliott who spent a decade with the Associated Press before moving to TIME in 2015. He has covered politics, numerous campaigns, campaign finance, education and the White House. He is our eyes and ears inside the West Wing and gives us a “behind the curtain” look at this Presidency.

CleanNPR’s Robert Siegel Bids Farewell to NPR After 40 Years of Audio Storytelling

Robert Siegel came to Washington D.C. from New York City’s FM Radio scene some 41 years ago. He thought his transition to Washington was temporary and soon he would be back in the New York scene.
Then, he discovered a fledgling National Public Radio. He joined a group of pioneering young reporters, journalists and broadcasters who thought audio storytelling was important and limitless in its possibilities. In short, he never returned to his New York roots.
Instead, he flourished professionally and grew as NPR grew. Thirty years ago, he became one of the hosts of NPR’s afternoon news and talk show “All Thing Considered.” It was a position that he would not relinquish for three decades.
Last Friday, on Jan. 5th, Siegel retired from his broadcasting position. Shortly before he signed off, Spectrum special correspondent Emily Votaw had the opportunity to speak with him about his career at NPR and in broadcasting.
We bring you this special edition of Spectrum to share with you part of Siegel’s farewell to his loyal and fervent listeners and supporters.

CleanDick and Jane Readers in the 1960’s Were Written by Reading Pioneer

Remember being taught to read through Dick, Jane, and Spot the dog along with Puff the cat, Tim the teddy bear and Sally the baby sister.
The Dick and Jane reading series began in the 1930’s and the books were published up until the 1970’s.
In the 1960’s the books went through a renaissance to match the changing times.
The art work was modernized. An African-American family was added to the storyline and the books became less sight based and more phonics based in teaching reading.
Leading that quiet revolution was Dr. Helen Mansfield Robinson. She was born in Athens, Ohio in 1906 and became an Ohio University graduate in 1926. She married and reared a family and received her doctorate in Chicago in the 1940’s.
From there she became a noted researcher, scholar and nationally recognized expert on teaching reading to children. Her contributions were stellar in combatting illiteracy and bringing the joy of reading to the masses.
This week, Kimberly Barlag the Director of Communication for the Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education at Ohio University and Julie Francis the Director of the new Edward Stevens Literacy Center at Ohio University talk with Spectrum about the history and the contributions of Helen Robinson.
We also will hear from the Patton College of Education Dean, Dr. Rene Middleton about Dr. Robinson’s efforts to bring diversity to the Dick and Jane series. Dr. Middleton, an African-American woman, has a special place in her memories for reading the Dick and Jane series that included people of color in the 1960’s.

Some of you love politics… But, don’t you get really tired of all the partisan wrangling, name-calling and finger pointing by our politicians?
The two parties usually can’t agree on the day of the week and the nastiness of their verbal exchanges is at an all-time high.
One result of this political vitriol is that little gets done in Congress and in many state legislatures and our trust in public figures is plummeting.
However, one retired politician is trying to erase the nastiness and re-establish CIVILITY in our public debate.
Ted Celeste is a former state representative from Ohio. He served in the Ohio General Assembly from 2007 to 2012. But, he’s now director of State Programs for the National Institute for Civil Discourse – a non-partisan center for advocacy, research and policy.
He leads the next generation project and travels the country doing legislative training called “Building Trust through Civil Discourse.” He has traveled to 22 different states trying to train state legislators and their staffs how to work toward consensus through civility.
He says that the political nastiness we hear today is counterproductive to getting things done and he points to Congress as a living example. Congress often is in gridlock based on overt partisanship or political verbal warfare.
Celeste says it doesn’t have to be that way.
While in office, he had a strong reputation of being able to reach across the partisan aisle to get legislation passed. He is now trying to pass along his tips to others in the hopes that we can be able to traverse the political divide we are now experiencing.

Recently, President Donald Trump announced that he was recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The act received widespread bi-partisan Congressional support and kudos from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, the announcement was met by Palestinian condemnation and by protests from some U.S. European allies such as France and other leaders in the Middle East.
Protest demonstrations have raged throughout the region accounting for widespread injuries and some violent confrontations with police, according to news reports.
Dr. Ziad Abu-Rish, an expert in modern Middle East History, Social Movements and Popular Protests and U.S. Middle Eastern policy, also directs the Middle East and North Africa Studies certificate program at Ohio University.
He explains to the “Spectrum Podcast” the impact of Trump’s move on the region and how it alters an American policy that had been in place for 70 years. It also disturbs the delicate political balance in the area. He is convinced that the Trump action also has scuttled any chance for a two-party peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis in the foreseeable future.
Dr. Abu-Rish states that Trump’s action legitimizes and endorses territory taken by the Israelis in war. He notes, in the past, that even the United Nations recognized both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as territory “occupied” by Israel (as a result of war).
Although Jerusalem houses major religious icons for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Dr. Abu-Rish believes that Trump’s recognition of it as the Israeli capital has more political and structural significance than religious.

CleanYour Internet Use Could be Limited by Upcoming FCC Action on Net Neutrality

On December 14, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is scheduled to vote to rescind a 2015 regulation that would end “net neutrality”.
Opponents of this action say it will consolidate too much power over the Internet into the hands of a few large broadband providers such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon and cable companies.
If passed, the high speed Internet providers would be allowed to block certain websites (at their discretion) and “throttle” (slow delivery) content for others. The large broadband companies then could charge a premium to content providers to ensure faster service and delivery of content to customers.
Those additional charges would be passed along to consumers, according to Dr. Trevor Roycroft, an economist, and expert on consumer issues in telecommunication. Dr. Roycroft is a professor in the J. Warren McClure School of Information and Telecommunication Systems at Ohio University.
Also, not every Internet user would have equal access to legal and legitimate websites. Some may be blocked by various providers.
This action also will limit individual access to Internet sites as determined by the broadband carriers, according to Dr. Roycroft. He also believes it will curtail innovation and creativity on the internet and be a disincentive to small entrepreneurial developers.
This move is part of the de-regulation initiatives of the Trump Administration and is being led by FCC chairman and Trump appointee Ajit Pai.
It is uncertain exactly when this action, if approved by the FCC on December 14, will actually take effect. If passed, the action needs to be published in the Federal Register and will most likely be challenged in court. The court action will not prevent implementation unless a court grants a “stay” of the rescission.

Clean“Good All Over” – a New PBS Docuseries Bringing You Stories of Helping Others

“Philanthropologist” is a word created by two filmmakers Craig Martin and Earl Bridges. It is a combination of “philanthropist” and “anthropologist.” It also describes what these two filmmakers do. They share stories from around the globe of those sacrificing to serve others.
Martin and Bridges are philanthropologists with cameras and microphones. They travel the world documenting stories of humans making a difference…solving problems and seeking solutions for the betterment of humankind.
Their storytelling will soon come your way in a new PBS docuseries called “Good All Over” scheduled to air in June 2018. The first four shows are currently in the post-production stage. They also soon will be launching a new podcast called “Philanthropologist” to tell stories through audio.
Both Bridges and Martin started out together as children of missionaries in Thailand. They even played basketball together on a team there.
However, their paths split with Bridges getting an undergraduate degree in accounting and master’s degrees in International Business Studies , International Business and International Finance. He also calls himself a “technology entrepreneur and filmmaker.”
Martin has a Master’s of Arts in Communication and has traveled to more than 80 countries over two decades to make films about the human condition.
Despite their differences, the two childhood friends reunited to launch http://www.goodallover.tv/ and to document “the gritty, breathtaking work of people making a life and a difference on the edges of civilization.” Watch the trailer at the bottom of their webpage.
They started a Kickstarter fund to support their films and their travel. They have raised over $37,000 from over 140 different backers.
Now they are preparing their first season of programs and are planning more for the future. Listen as we discuss their histories, motivations, and observations in this entertaining and enlightening podcast.

The pomp, pageantry, and elaborate ceremonies honoring President Donald Trump on his recent Far East trip met the White House expectations for presidential optics and the perception of exalting the U.S. President.
However, many observers wonder if President Trump actually made much headway in negotiating new trade agreements or getting additional help in solving the N. Korean nuclear issue, according to Phillip Ewing, national security editor for National Public Radio.
Additionally, the magnitude of the trip has been minimized somewhat with the Twitter skirmish Pres. Trump has had with the father of one of the three UCLA basketball players released after shoplifting arrests in China. The battle over who should receive credit for their release has somewhat overshadowed the foreign policy ramifications of the trip, Ewing says.
Ewing also notes that current criticism of the President and some of his advisors by a rather substantial number of retired Generals is unprecedented in its volume and ferocity.
Simultaneously, the Navy is suffering from a number of fatal disasters at sea in the Far East bringing into focus the lack of training and maintenance in the Armed Forces, according to Ewing. This gives a black-eye to the perception of U.S. military superiority and efficiency. It displays vulnerability.
While the military is suffering from some perception issues, Ewing says the State Dept. also is undergoing a crisis in morale under Sec. of State Rex Tillerson. Many top level positions have not yet been filled by the Administration thereby causing some chaos in handling some key diplomatic issues.
Upcoming next month is the issue of the budget and whether Congress will allow the federal government to shut down or whether the Republicans can strike a deal with the Democrats to keep the federal government running. Ewing says that this is a key issue to watch develop over the next 30 days or so.
Ewing has been with NPR since November 2015. Also, he has had a long history of reporting about military and defense issues for POLITICO.com, military.com and Navy Times.

Dr. Mario Grijalva is a molecular cell biologist who has focused his career on helping to eradicate Chagas disease – especially in South America.
This bug, the Trypanosoma Cruzi parasite, exists only within certain parts of Latin America, and has caused havoc in most countries in the region. The parasites causing Chagas can be transmitted by certain insect bites. The parasites also can be transferred congenitally and through blood transfusions. Most of the people infected do not know of the existence of the parasite for 5 to 20 years. Then they develop defective heart symptoms that can often prove fatal.
Professor Mario Grijalva, director of the Tropical Disease Institute at Ohio University, he has spent his lifetime career researching and finding ways to curb the disease.
Ecuador, his native land, is a country that exists on the equator on the South American continent. As the name suggests, it is a country straddling the equator on South America's West Coast. It is a tropical country with a diverse landscape that covers all the way from the Amazon jungle to the Andean Highlands. And at the Andean Foothills, is Quito the capital which was previously a Spanish Colonial Center in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
But out here, in this tropical country, a disease has been ravaging and ending the lives of many Ecuadorians prematurely. This again, is where Professor Mario Grijalva comes into play. You see he came to Ohio as a graduate student and after he graduated… stayed on and spearheaded the Institute for Tropical Medicine at the state’s oldest university, Ohio University. The way he puts it, Chagas disease has shaped his professional career.
All of the world, malaria is the most known tropical mosquito-borne disease. But Chagas disease is less known because it's limited to certain parts of the world. Professor Grijalva, says Trypanosoma Cruzi is this little parasite that reproduces itself inside human or animal cells and hangs around for a very long time. If not treated, at its worst, it causes an inflammation of the heart. Basically, that means the heart will start growing and that is the beginning of real trouble.
Dr. Grijalva has dedicated his research to this disease and has taken over 600 American college students to Ecuador to work with Ecuadorian students and faculty in a new 100,000 square foot research facility and laboratory in Quito, Dr. Grijalva’s hometown. He also has developed a partnership between Ohio University and the Catholic University of Ecuador to fight the disease.
The disease generally targets the underserved citizens who do not have regular access to health care.
Dr. Grijalva is not only working on the science of Chagas but he is also trying to raise awareness of this devastating disease. To date, some 50 scientific papers have been published about Chagas. This has raised the knowledge base significantly.

While traveling on Air Force One this week in Asia, President Trump lamented the fact that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is insulted by United States accusations that Russia meddled in the 2016 Presidential election.
Trump contended that Putin’s bruised feelings would prevent him from making “deals” with the US concerning Syria and North Korea. The President also referred to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former C.I.A. Director John O. Brennan as “political hacks” and that the investigation into Russian meddling is an “artificial Democratic hit job.”
The next day, Pres. Trump adjusted his comments to say that he was not supporting the views of Putin but was instead just acknowledging his beliefs.
This latest “dust-up” again brings to focus the tenuous relationship between the U.S. and Russia and the strange relationship between the country’s two leaders.
To put this ongoing relationship into focus, Spectrum podcast talked with international expert and specialist in Russia/Soviet and East European history Dr. Steven Miner. He also is the current Director of the Contemporary History Institute at Ohio University.
Miner says that Putin is a far better political tactician than Trump but that, overall, he has not proven to be a good strategist.
Miner describes the tenuous nature of the Russian economy and its suffering from U.S. sanctions.
He also notes that Russia has dedicated part of its military strategy to cyber warfare and cyber interference with other nations’ electoral processes…especially the U.S. and others in Western Europe. Putin feels that effort has been successful. This tactic costs little money but causes major upheaval – as evidenced by the current U.S. Congressional and legal inquiries.
Miner also suggests that we watch for Russia to acquire more adjacent territory while the U.S. is preoccupied with N. Korea and our internal investigations into Russian meddling.
Miner is an award winning author and is putting the finishing touches on his latest book called “The Furies Unleashed: The Soviet People at War, 1941-1945.”

CleanScience TV is Exploding on North Carolina Public Television Due to Frank Graff

North Carolina Science Now is a statewide public television series that also is multimedia. It explains scientific discoveries, research, and principles using ordinary language that is understandable. Not only are the stories long-form news features on UNC-TV but they truly are multimedia.
Frank Graff, a veteran of more than two decades of local television news in at least seven different cities, in 2012 turned his sole focus to explaining science in a factual but interesting and entertaining way. He acts as reporter and producer.
In addition to the television piece, http://science.unctv.org/content/ provides a blog about the stories, additional reference materials, and sometimes animations. Graff also has teamed with an experienced educational professional and, together, they also produce model curricula that can be used by teachers to teach a 15 minute unit on the subject contained in each story.
North Carolina is a very diverse state scientifically with mountains in the west and the Atlantic Ocean on its east coast. Nestled between the coast and the mountains are the University of North Carolina, Duke and many other major research universities. There also is the famous Research Triangle with cutting-edge scientific discoveries.
Graff combs the research of scholars, individuals, government and the private sector to find fascinating stories that will resonate with the average viewer of public television.
“We try to provide a variety of stories from different geographical regions across this large state,” Graff says.
In addition to North Carolina Science Now, Graff and his associates have developed a second 30 minute show called Sci Tech Now North Carolina. It combines shorter stories together with science reporting from other public broadcasting outlets from around the country.
There is an increasing appetite of people to learn about and understand scientific discoveries that are in our midst, according to Graff. People want to know what is being discovered and how things work.
Graff spends full-time researching and finding topics that he thinks will be interesting to the average viewer and then travels on location to do key interviews and to film anything visual about the discovery.
The public feedback about the shows and the topics has been overwhelmingly positive, Graff notes.
He plans to continue the shows and perhaps even expand the current offerings.

After two 12 count indictments were issued against former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates, a guilty plea of a Trump Campaign security advisor was unveiled on Monday. Washington DC was buzzing with strategizing, gossiping, and worrying.
George Papadopolous, part of the Trump Security Group, admitted to communicating with Russians who promised Hillary Clinton’s emails after he initially lied about it to the FBI. It also was verified by court papers that Papadopolous had been involved in “proactive cooperation” with the FBI since July 2017. This put Russian involvement into the middle of the Trump campaign as the President continued to tweet that there was “no collusion.”
Special Counsel Robert Mueller had struck his first visible blow. Speculation now runs rampant as to what will come next and what political and legal positions should be taken in anticipation of Mueller’s next step.
Philip Elliott, Washington correspondent for TIME, described to Spectrum the current positions of the White House and also described congressional response.
The White House is characterizing the alleged crimes of Manafort and Gates as all occurring prior to being associated with the Trump campaign and therefore, not related. The President, it is reported, even felt relief after the first indictments were made public.
However, that relief was short-lived and after hearing of the Papadopolous plea he became so angry and volatile that staffers were avoiding him – even in hallways, according to Elliott.
President Trump, in tweets Tuesday, echoed the Monday statements of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders demeaning Papadopolous as a young, low-level volunteer and a proven liar.
Elliott says that despite the White House public bravado that staffers are quite concerned about their potential legal liabilities and are “leaking” information like never before.
While the White House engages the public on the Mueller actions, Congress is trying to duck public comment as much as possible, Elliott says. Democrats are calling for protections of Mueller’s position and Republicans are saying that they are not going to be distracted by the latest legal actions. Instead, House Speaker Paul Ryan claims he will be singularly focused on tax reform.
Elliott notes that members of Congress from both parties are still playing the waiting-game to determine how much trouble the President and his campaign will ultimately be in as a result of Mueller’s investigations. He also notes the dual Congressional investigations are still ongoing.
He says the next big issue to watch will be the Russian involvement in Social Media.

CleanCareer Tips and Advice for all Stages and All Ages – Provided by a Career Coach

Each stage of a career-early, mid-career, and retirement bring unique problems and issues that are addressed specifically by career consultant Beverly Jones.
Jones is an attorney, an executive coach, an author, a blogger and a podcaster. She works with people at all stages of their careers to help them traverse the ever-changing landscapes of the workplace.
Beverly is the author of the book Think Like an Entrepreneur Act Like a CEO – 50 Indispensable Tips to Help you Stay Afloat, Bounce Back and Get Ahead at Work and she hosts the podcast Jazzed About Work, available through Apple Podcasts, Google Play and on the NPR Podcast Directory.
Often she advises millennials just entering the workplace about when it’s time to move from one job to the next and how not to sacrifice a private life for a career. She also gives tips on networking – what it is and what it should never be.
For those in the mid-career doldrums, she suggests that they find a new challenge either in private life or on-the-job…something new to learn and master. She suggests that development of new skills will not only make life more rewarding but it often can boost a career at the same time.
She also spends a significant amount of her professional time advising new retirees. Often they are looking for new challenges or new careers and Beverly guides them through various exercises to allow them the freedom to try new things and to challenge themselves even at an advanced age.
She is a strong proponent of that there should be “fun” in every day of life and new challenges often produce that element of fun.

CleanThere Need To Be More Women in STEM Careers, Says Experienced Expert

JJ DiGeronimo is President of Tech Savvy Women. She is a speaker, an award-winning author and an executive strategist. And, she is a strong proponent of women actively pursuing careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
DiGeronimo charted her own course in Silicon Valley after determining that a career in STEM was her ambition. However, she has left the tech world as an employee and now she owns her own company leading other women through the employment maze of STEM.
She notes that women and men approach careers differently and have different career expectations.
They even approach resumes differently, according to DiGeronimo. Men tend to be more direct and metric based whereas women tend to generalize, she says.
Recently, DiGeronimo released a new book “Accelerate Your Impact,” which is directed towards women in the workplace. The book has earned the Next Generation Indie Book Award.
Her latest book meshes with her 2011 book “The Working Woman’s GPS.” In addition to authoring books, DiGeronimo is a featured columnist for Smart Business Magazine and is often quoted in Forbes, The Wall St. Journal and on Fox Business.

Lidia Catalano is a multimedia journalist from Turin, Italy visiting this country to examine the growth of alternative work arrangements. Her primary observation is that this segment of our economy is growing beyond expectations.
Alternative work arrangements take many forms such as hiring temporary, on-call and independent contract workers. It also includes freelancers and some short-term contract workers. This economy is known as the “Gig Economy” – after the term for a short-term performance – a “gig.”
This economy is booming in the United States, according to Catalano. One reason is that employers do not normally have to pay benefits to “gig” workers. Instead, the compensation is usually paid hourly or by a set amount for a job or a period of time.
For employers this is a cost savings because they don’t pay benefits and for the worker, it gives him or her extra freedom and mobility, according to Catalano.
Catalano is on a 90 day tour of the United States studying work economies. Long-term she is a journalist for the Turin daily newspaper La Stampa. Her normal beat is education, migration, gender equality, labor markets and employment.
Catalano was recently presented with the Igor Man prize of excellence in journalism for a report she did about the Marcinelle, Belgium mine disaster of 1956.

CleanDevastation is Horrible But it Can Foster Resilience, says Expert

The devastation in Puerto Rico, as a result of two major hurricanes – Irma and Maria, is beyond most of our comprehension. Half of the population, or 3.4 million people, lack drinking water and 95 percent are without electricity – after two weeks. Additionally, 80 percent have no phone service so outreach to friends and relatives is nearly impossible.
Natural disasters drain resources from Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and other Caribbean islands suffering from major infrastructure and structural damage, according to Roger-Mark DeSouza.
He is the director of population, environmental security, and resilience for the Wilson Center in Washington DC. He currently heads the Global Sustainability and Resilience Program, Environmental Change and Security Program, and Maternal Health Initiative.
But, not only are the islands threatened but mainland coastal areas of the United States also are facing elevated environmental threats, according to DeSouza.
DeSouza spoke with WOUB’s Spectrum podcast about the multiple factors facing areas of both the mainland and U.S. islands as a result of the recent hurricanes. He claims what we have experienced is not just an island issue or a Caribbean problem but instead natural climate change disasters face all coastal areas of the United States – areas that have expanding populations and deteriorating infrastructures.
Although DeSouza believes our country’s infrastructure is in terrible disrepair, he thinks that the increase in natural disasters forces us to have national resilience and gives us an opportunity to repair and replace with better and stronger systems.
Resilience is a main focus of DeSouza and he says that truly to be resilient a people must plan on ways to prevent devastation, engage communities and work together.
Prior to joining the Wilson Center in 2013, DeSouza was vice president of research and director of the climate program at Population Action International. From 2007 to 2010, DeSouza was the director of foundation and corporate relations at the Sierra Club.
For a decade earlier, he directed the Population, Health, and Environment Program at the Population Reference Bureau.

After being the voice of Bart Simpson in Fox’s animated series, The Simpson’s, for 29 years, voice-over actor Nancy Cartwright wanted to do something different artistically.
So, she fired up the “artistic muse” inside her and she co-wrote and produced an independent feature film based upon a portion of her life. It has just been released.
“In Search of Fellini” is about “75 to 80 percent” based upon a real adventure Nancy had in her early 20’s when she toured Italy alone in search of the world famous director Federico Fellini. She did this after being obsessed by the Fellini film “La Strada.”
She left her voice-over work behind and toured Italy searching for the great director. While there she received a marriage proposal plus encountered a life threatening situation among other major incidents. The adventure was life-changing.
The description of the film says: “A shy small-town Ohio girl who loves movies but dislikes reality, discovers the delightfully bizarre films of Federico Fellini, and sets off on a strange, beautiful journey across Italy to find him.”
Earlier in her career, Cartwright had helped create an award-winning one-woman show about this topic but the idea for creating “more” sat on her shelf until she became determined to make it into a feature length film.
Cartwright says that the movie is part of an overall artistic explosion in her life. She says that she has started really exercising her artistic talents in many ways including writing and creating sculpture – among other art forms.
Cartwright talks with Spectrum’s Tom Hodson about the movie, her artistic renaissance, and the stability that being part of television’s longest running show has brought to her life and her career.

CleanTV Journalist Judy Woodruff Has Experienced Many Changes Over Four Decades

Judy Woodruff, award-winning broadcast journalist, has spent over four decades covering Washington for PBS, CNN, and NBC. She currently is the anchor of the PBS NewsHour airing across the country on PBS stations each week-night.
She has seen monumental changes in journalism and how news is delivered over her career. One change is the role of women.
In 2013, Woodruff and her colleague Gwen Ifill were the first two women to anchor a major newscast together. Ifill died in 2016 leaving Woodruff alone at the anchor desk and leaving a hole in Woodruff’s life.
Woodruff explains that the PBS NewsHour, which is gaining audience numbers, is committed to thorough and accurate reporting in all of its stories underscored by a sense of fairness and balance.
She says, too often today, that people only want to hear news from their own political perspective – conservatives watch FOX News and liberals watch MSNBC. Instead, PBS tries to be neutral and attract all audiences interested in deep reporting.
Instead of having screaming pundits and yelling arguments among panel members, the NewsHour features veteran commentators David Brooks from the New York Times and political operative Mark Shields.
Brooks and Shields express different views but do so in a civil and respectful manner, according to Woodruff.
She also cites the explosion of social media as changing the news business. Instead of just preparing a story to be broadcast in the news segment, reporters now need to write the story for the website and add links to appropriate background documents. They also need to pepper social media with links to their work and real time updates.
As a result of technological changes, news consumers get more news today than any time in history, Woodruff says.

CleanLegislation to Protect the “Dreamers” & DACA Could Become a Political Football

Recently, President Donald Trump rescinded an Executive Order called DACA issued by former President Barack Obama protecting undocumented immigrants who came to this country illegally as children.
The impact of Pres. Trump’s action could leave 800,000 people – the “Dreamers” as they are called – subject to deportation.
Instead of making the rescission immediate, however, Pres. Trump gave Congress six months to pass some form of legislation to protect the Dreamers status in this country. This may be a difficult task given the fractious nature of Congress and its displayed inability to pass major legislation.
To obtain protected status under the Obama order, Dreamers had to provide all of their vital information to the federal government, pass background checks, have no criminal record and be either employed, in the military, or attending some form of school, according to Dr. Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington DC, a policy and research think tank.
As a result, these people are better educated and have better jobs that the average American citizen. They also have lower crime rates, Selee says.
Since Congress now must decide whether to extend protections to this group, Selee says that various ideological groups may splinter on this issue making agreement on any type of legislation difficult.
Most Americans, however, favor protecting this group.
Therefore, Selee believes that Congress will tie the Dreamer Act to another piece of controversial legislation to appease various factions in Congress. For example, he says, Congress may attach some funding for Pres. Trump’s border wall or a boost in border patrols in exchange for protecting the Dreamers.
In short, Selee feels that Congress will pass some form of Dreamer protection but it will be tied to legislation that give more conservative factions something they want – such as wall funding.
If Congress does not pass any protective legislation, Pres. Trump has “Tweeted” that he will “revisit” this issue – leaving the status of Dreamers uncertain.

In 2015, Jordan Phillips mother, Nicole, fought a bout with breast cancer. The diagnosis and treatments were totally unexpected and caught the family off-guard.
Jordan, then 12 years old, was sad and frustrated and wanted to do something to help her mother and others like her. So, Jordan, on her own, created a cozy for coffee mugs. She sewed them herself and has sold them in various ways for donations to cancer research.
She has called them “Cozys for the Cure” and to date, she had raised over $100,000 in donations for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization.
While delivering a speech about her project in New York City, along with her mother, Jordan piqued the interest of a manufacture and distributer.
As a result, her Cozys for the Cure are now being sold in over 1,600 Walmart Stores across the nation with a portion of the sales proceeds being donated for cancer research.
Jordan explains that one day she saw cardboard coffee cup cozys with illustrations drawn on them. That gave her the idea to make cozys out of cloth. Since she has sewn since she was five, she turned to her sewing machine and created the cloth coffee mug cozys.
She then went into full-out production in her home and started selling her cozys online and through Facebook to raise donations.
She even solicited some of her friends from her former home in N. Dakota to help out. A group of nine young girls, calling themselves “Jojo’s Cozy Tribe,” helped aid production along with two talented “sewing ladies.”
Just recently, the 14 year old has become an official business “Cozys for the Cure, LLC.” This will enable her to not only provide additional donation money to fight cancer but also, at a very young age, learn how a real business works.
Jordan told Spectrum that she wants to become a female entrepreneur and she wants to fight cancer until it is cured. Both are noble goals.
Jordan’s mother, Nicole, also has been dedicating her life to the spreading of kindness.
She is a much sought after public speaker and author of the book “Kindness is Contagious.” She also will be launching a new podcast about kindness in late October. Produced by WOUB Public Media, it will be distributed initially through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and NPR One.

CleanNon-Traditional College Students Often Face Hunger & Massive Debt for Degree

When you think of college students you might think of affluent young people reveling in the joys of care-free campus life…But, that doesn’t describe all college students – especially many non-traditional students.
They often are juggling families, jobs, mounting debt and hunger. Yes, hunger. Many go to regional campuses or community colleges. They are enduring current hardships for the promise of a better life with a degree.
Bob Long was a long-time voice on WMUB radio at Miami University in Southwestern Ohio. He spent almost 30 years working with students and gaining broadcasting and journalism awards.
Late in his career and since his retirement, Long started working with students at one of Miami University’s regional campuses. This is a campus inhabited by working students and those with limited resources in an impoverished area of the state.
“I was amazed at the conditions in which I found some of these students,” Long says. “Many of them had gone days without eating so that they could pay for school, books, and to support their families.”
Most of them are in debt for their education and the student debt is mounting each day. In addition, they need to spend money on books and transportation to and from the campus.
“All of this, too often, totals up to poverty. These students are financially strapped and they are NOT the spoiled college students we normally think of…far from it…” Long describes. “They need some help.”
Long, a long-time advocate for food pantries for the poor, wants to attack the hunger issues facing many non-traditional students at satellite campuses. He is starting college and university based food pantries for qualifying college students and he is trying to launch a national campaign to meet the needs of these low-income students.
He also is using his voice to argue for the lowering of student debt or the forgiveness of debt payments for qualifying students.
Long wants to give everyone a chance to get an education but he says it is not possible for many who already live on the economic fringes.

Children who have been in foster care are a special group of children to be adopted. Currently more than 110,000 children are waiting in this category for adoptive parents.
However, more than 20,000 will leave foster care without ever being adopted increasing their risks for anti-social behaviors as adults.
These figures are the result of a recent national survey conducted by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national nonprofit public charity. One of its main purposes is to find adoptive parents for these foster care children.
Rita Soronen, the President and CEO of the foundation talked with SPECTRUM about this issue. She says that 80 percent of Americans who consider adoption now consider adopting a foster child. This is a significant increase over the past five years.
Foster children are often children taken away from birth parents by court orders for their safety. Instead, they are put in foster homes for their care. The study shows that four out of five children in foster care are there through no fault or actions of their own.
“These children are just like any other child. They’ve simply had a rough start in life,” Soronen says. “But they are available for adoption and they deserve to find a permanent family and a safe home.”
The Foundation works to find adoptive families that meet each child’s individual needs especially for children with special needs or siblings that need to stay together, according to Soronen.
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption was started by the founder of Wendy’s restaurants in 2001. It has multiple initiatives and grant programs that promote adoption.
In 2015, the Foundation spent more than $17 million in grants and awareness initiatives for adoption related activities in the United States and Canada.

This is a personal story…the story of journalist Colin Lasu…a son of South Sudan, Africa’s newest country.
Because of the chaos since its independence in 2011 and a Civil War beginning in 2013, over 1 million refugees have fled to neighboring Uganda and Ethiopia and over 200,000 have fled to other countries.
Lasu, a journalist in his home country, came back to America and received asylum here. He proved to the U.S. government that he would probably be killed if he had to return to South Sudan so the U.S. has allowed him to stay indefinitely.
Meanwhile, this seasoned journalist has obtained his master’s degree and now is studying for his doctoral degree.
He talks with SPECTRUM about his life in his home country and the chaos that ensued after independence. He also talks about his projects to train average S. Sudanese residents to become fearless radio reporters.
At one time, Lasu created a certificate program with the University of Juba and created the Sudan Radio Service. For two years, he helped non-journalists become reporters, mouthpieces of local news from their particular region.
They were taught by Lasu to talk with just “ordinary” people to get stories and reactions and not just public or governmental officials. The radio stations became quite populist.
The radio stations were very popular and Lasu trained a great number of people. However, the stations were deemed too independent by the government and a threat. Lasu became at odds with his home country’s government and he escaped to America.
Now, Lasu is studying conflict transformation, peaceful coexistence, media coverage, good governance and empowerment of disadvantaged groups.

USA Today, in partnership with YouTube, delivers a weekly virtual reality newscast called VRtually There, produced by VR veteran Robert Padavick.
It is the first native VR series, says Padavick and it produces three feature stories a week. Although VR is in its infancy, Padavick claims that watching something in VR is like having a movie theater on your face. The experience is totally immersive and like no other.
Consumers can experience stories…not just hear them or see them.
He thinks that VR is the news delivery vehicle of the future and it is now in its experimental and developmental stages. But, he thinks it will become mainstream soon.
Even though the visuals are the base of VR, Padavick claims that sound is equally important and spatial audio is complicated to capture and deliver. It also is in its developmental stage.
In creating VR new products that must be captured, produced, monetized and delivered to consumers, Padavick says he feels like a “pioneer.”
He also claims that “writing” is still the foundation of storytelling and that great writing is equally important in VR stories.
Padavick is not a newcomer to the news business. Before landing with USA Today’s VR team, Padavick had experience with both CNN and NBC.
He is a firm believer that the public will demand more and more experiential news and feature stories.

CleanNPR Serves the General Public and Millennials Says Reporter & Former Producer

Laurel Wamsley, a young but veteran reporter and producer at National Public Radio (NPR), says she loves working there because she feels the NPR is truly serving the public. She also knows that NPR has made a concerted effort to attract a younger millennial audience and to broaden its base.
Wamsley is in her second stint at the radio giant. She has served as both a “producer” and a “reporter.”
She shares with us that there are two kinds of producers at NPR…show producers who work on a particular program like Morning Edition or All Things Considered and there are desk producers who work on particular topics such as politics, national desk, international, science and education.
A producer finds guests, books the guests, arranges for studio time or field logistics and edits interviews to fit the time slot needed. She said often 20 minute interviews need to be reduced to six minutes or less. That editing responsibility falls on the producer and not the reporter.
Currently, Wamsley is writing “breaking news” for NPR and for their digital product “Two-Way.” She rarely knows what she will cover on any given day and usually produces two to three different stories every work day. She says she likes the variety and it is a challenge to learn to report on and write the stories quickly.
Sometimes a story, such as one such did on Amelia Earhart will get her an additional interview with one of the hosts of All Things Considered or Morning Edition.
Wamsley also has been involved with the explosive popularity of NPR’s podcasts. She previously produced NPR’s wildly popular Politics Podcast.
She says that NPR’s podcasts plus the emphasis NPR has on its NPR Music products definitely attracts a younger audience. She notes that young people who are attracted to NPR Music may not be equally attracted to NPR News but there is more and more crossover.
Wamsley is a native of Athens, Ohio, the home of Ohio University, but she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To date, she has worked in Washington D.C.; Austin, Texas, and Chicago.
One of her passions is “urban life” and she calls herself an “urbanist.” She studies urban sustainability and urban self-sufficiency.

CleanLove It or Hate It: The Trump Presidency is Like No Other, Says USA Today Journo

Never before have we had a President that spoke his mind almost daily to the American people. Like it or hate it, President Trump, through his use of social media, broadcasts across the globe his likes, dislikes, and policy thoughts. He is unedited.
While President Obama was closed, guarded and cautious, Pres. Trump says what he thinks or feels regardless of the consequences. Some argue, this makes him the most accessible and transparent President ever, while others claim his behavior reflects a dangerous, almost-cavalier approach to Presidential communications.
The contrast between Trump and Obama is significant for those assigned to cover the White House like Gregory Korte of USA Today. This veteran, award-winning journalist covered both administrations and he tells Spectrum of the differences between the two approaches.
Korte not only covers the White House but he accompanied President Trump on his nine-day trip through the Middle-East and parts of Europe and his most recent trip to the G-20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany.
When on foreign trips, Obama attempted to connect with the people and speak about ideals of democracy, Korte says. Trump, however, prefers bilateral meetings with foreign leaders, in secret and on the fringes of the regular meetings. He likes to meet one-on-one with foreign leaders and exercise the “Art of the Deal,” according to Korte.
It is too early to determine what the nature of Trump’s foreign policy exactly is but Korte says the primary objective is to defeat ISIS and to exercise military strength around the globe.
Korte also notes major differences in the way Trump treats cabinet members such as Rex Tillerson compared to the way Obama would work with cabinet members. Many believe Tillerson is about to resign this early in the President’s term because he is being undermined by the President and his public disclosures.
Korte says, in covering the White House, he tries to stay away from the “palace intrigue” of who has power and who is about to be fired. Instead, he tries to dig out the daily news nuggets from the chaff of distractions. He admits that some days that job is particularly difficult.
Besides covering the White House, Korte has acted as a visiting professional -- teaching at the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University—his alma mater.

Graham Nash is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee who created pioneering British pop-rock outfit The Hollies with childhood friend Allan Clarke in his late teens and was a featured initial in Crosby, Stills, and Nash. He continues to be socially and politically active well into his older years.
Last year he released his first solo project in 14 years, “This Path Tonight,” crafted with the assistance of longtime collaborator Shane Fontayne. Nash refers to himself as a writer, and his ability to master expression with the written (and sung) word is showcased on the lean, 10-song release. Earlier this year Nash announced that he would be going on tour in support of the album this summer, giving fans across the U.S. a chance to take part in his spirited and career-spanning live shows.
Spectrum’s Emily Votaw spoke with Nash about his feelings on the 2016 Presidential election, what he feels all artists should be doing as a result of it, and what it means to be a hippie in 2017.

What Russia may lack in modern traditional military assets, it more than compensates through its ability to wage tactical cyberattacks and ultimately the potential for cyberwarfare.
That’s the opinion of Dr. Steven Miner, professor and Director of the Contemporary History Institute at Ohio University.
Russia’s military hardware is deteriorating and the Russian economy is not strong under its leader Vladimir Putin. So, Russia is opting for committing cyber terrorism to advance its positions in the world.
These attacks, which can be done cheaply, have become pervasive by Russia throughout Europe, the countries bordering Russia and even in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, Dr. Miner says. They are not new.
One of the Russian objectives is to “make trouble” and to discredit the authenticity of democratic electoral systems…leading people to think that elections, for example, are “rigged.”
He feels that the cyber interference in the American election was sparked more by a hatred of Sec. of State Hillary Clinton by Putin than any love for Donald Trump.
Dr. Miner gives a brief explanation of the rise to power of Putin and Putin’s “cynical” philosophy relating to governments and power. Putin’s world view was formed during his early days with Russian Intelligence, the KGB.
Dr. Miner also explains how the current hostile feelings between American and Russia are different than those that existed in the Cold War.
“We are not in Cold War – Part 2,” Dr. Miner says. The relationships between the countries are now far more complex than in earlier Cold War days.
Dr. Miner is one of the world’s foremost authorities on Russian/Soviet and East European history. He just completed writing a book that is awaiting publication by Simon and Schuster, titled – The Furies Unleashed: The Soviet People at War, 1941-1945.

President Donald Trump states that his actions through Executive Orders will bring coal mining jobs back to America. Jonathan Norris, researcher and engineer, says that is not likely to happen.
Mining jobs have been on a steady decline since the 1980’s, according to Norris. The main reason is that natural gas has become a much cheaper way to run power plants to produce electricity.
So, even if the President eases carbon emission standards, it will not bring back mining. Coal is a more expensive way to produce electricity. So mines will not come back unless the economy allows them too, Norris says.
Norris’ research interests include energy policy, innovation systems, and the transition of small Appalachian communities from being coal bases to being economically diverse.
A native of the coal fields of Ohio, Norris describes the boom or bust history of extractive industries in his home region.
He says that when coal jobs disappeared that many small communities had no other economic base. The poverty that follows hones a type of fatalistic thinking among residents. Crime increases and drug and alcohol addiction skyrockets.
Southern Ohio, Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia have the highest rates of opioid addiction in the country, Norris says.
Some efforts are being made to retrain former miners for other jobs but many of those programs rely on federal money from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). However, the ARC has been “zeroed out” in the Trump proposed budget to Congress.
If retraining programs and economic diversity programs cannot be funded then hope dims further for the mining communities out of work.

CleanImmigration Passions Run High as Trump Administration Addresses Issues

Passions can run high with immigration issues. Some Americans embrace immigration and immigrants as being the backbone of the United States. While with others, immigration is seen as problematic and even frightening and a threat to America.
Although often we, as Americans, see immigration issues as simplistic black and white issues, but instead, according to Dr. Andrew Selee, we need to take a broader view to immigration and its complexities. We, as a country, need to work on how we can improve our immigration instead of concentrating on how to limit our immigration policies, he says.
Dr. Selee is the Executive Vice President of the Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington. On August 1 he will become the President of the Migration Policy Institute, a global policy and research think tank-- also in Washington DC.
Dr. Selee’s expertise is in immigration with a special emphasis on Mexico and the inter-relationships between Mexico and the United States.
Under the Trump Administration enforcement against undocumented residents already is up 37 percent. Selee says this emphasis on enforcement and building a wall appeals only to about 20 to 25 percent of the American public
During this period of hyper enforcement, Dr. Selee notes some positive aspects of immigration. About one-third of all new businesses in America are started by immigrants. He also notes that legal immigrants bring to America a higher degree of academic attainment than the average American has.
Dr. Selee also says that since 2007, immigration from Mexico to the United States is in decline because the Mexican population is getting older and the country’s economy is getting better. Instead, Mexico is facing immigration issues with the influx of people to Mexico from Central America.
Dr. Selee notes that the Asia immigration population in America is the most rapidly expanding group with an influx of people from India and China.
He discusses the fact that Congress has not been able to adequately address immigration because any proposed plan gets snagged in the details.
He also notes that drugs do not come into this country from Mexico through illegal border crossings. Instead, they come in hidden in vehicles through legitimate points of entry. New technology is needed to detect and stop this and not a wall, according to Selee.

American foreign policy under the Trump Administration currently is “chaotic, amorphous, and …unprofessional,” according to Ambassador Reuben Brigety, dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.
Ambassador Brigety expresses to Spectrum podcast that he is concerned about the huge number of important positions in the State Department that are not yet filled after four months in office. The Trump Administration has not nominated a sufficient number of people for the U.S. Senate to confirm. This leaves foreign policy work undone and sends the wrong message to our allies, according to Brigety.
He believes that there are multiple reasons for these vacancies. He said that the Trump Transition Team was the most “slow and chaotic that we’ve seen in decades.” Therefore, nominations were not ready early in the Administration.
He also says that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has decided to “take his time” making these appointments since the Trump administration has called for a 30% budget cut in the State Department which leads to a lay-off of 2,300 State Department workers. The Ambassador calls this 30% cut “outrageous.”
Finally, Brigety says the positions are not filled because several potential employees have said “no” to joining this administration.
Brigety asserts that his observations are not partisan in nature and is quick to point out major foreign policy attributes of the Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush administrations.
The Ambassador also notes that the Trump administration, to date, has failed to articulate an overall foreign policy. “America First is not a world view,” says Brigety. He claims that it is a slogan that is rather meaningless when confronting major problems or catastrophes on the world’s stage.
Brigety also raised some concerns about the Defense Department and the role of the military in making foreign policy decisions. He cites that we come from a long tradition of “civilian control of the military” through the President. He, however, says it is a reasonable question to ask whether currently any civilians in the Trump Administration have an adequate understanding or comprehension of the military in order to make informed decisions.
Speaking specifically of Africa, Ambassador Brigety says that too often America has not taken advantage of the richness of Africa’s resources of land, people, and development possibilities. Instead, China has taken over as the major economic player on the African continent and has eclipsed America’s meager efforts. Brigety says that the Trump Administration, to date, has been “quiet on Africa.”
He provides Spectrum listeners with a guide of what to follow in the future in the areas of foreign policy. He thinks it is important to view how America is relating to its allies, how it handles North Korea, and how the Trump Administration responds to the next big disaster that will require humanitarian efforts.
Ambassador Brigety previously served as Representative of the United States to the African Union and was named Permanent Representative of the US to the UN Economic Commission for Africa. He also has served as a Deputy Assist Sec. of State in the Bureau of African Affairs and in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. He also is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

During the scramble to be the first and provide the best possible coverage of the ongoing Trump/Russia investigations, credible news organizations have published numerous stories based upon “leaks” from sources who are listed as “anonymous” or described without using their names or titles.
Some Administration officials decry “leakers” and infer that they are not credible and chastise news entities for using the information from these unnamed sources. Some officials call stories based on anonymous sources “fake news.”
Journalists, however, often must rely on these anonymous tips to get the facts and after the stories and sources are completely vetted – the resulting story is anything but “fake news.” Often these stories are, in fact, the most reliable types of stories. They must, however, be what Andrew Alexander calls – subject to “prosecutorial editing” – severe editing for fairness, credibility and accuracy.
Alexander is a former Washington Post ombudsman, a former Washington Bureau chief for Cox Newspapers and an award winning journalist – in his own right. His media career has spanned more than four decades.
He has reported from more than 50 countries and he has directed news coverage both domestically and internationally. He is a member of the board of the American Society of News Editors and has led its Freedom of Information Committee.
Alexander also serves on the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists – This group assists journalists worldwide who have been subjected to attacks, arrests and harassment.
Today, he helps us understand the use of anonymous sources by journalists, governmental leaks and the ethics and legalities surrounding this controversial method of reporting.
Specifically, the use by media of unnamed anonymous sources in ongoing news coverage of the Trump/Russia investigation has been a point of contention and is rampant in it repetitiveness.
Alexander helps define for us “off the record” and “not for attribution” and tells us why a reporter or editor might support anonymity of a source. He also thinks it is humorous when Congress and the White House get upset and agitated about “leakers” since many of the leakers work for those complaining entities.
He also notes that, to date, the Trump Administration has been waging a “war of words” against reporters but if those words turn into punitive actions with legal consequences, then we will be in a new state of animosity that we have never seen set loose against the media in this country.
Alexander equated this possible hostility against the media to be similar to what happens to reporters in Russia, Syria or Turkey.

CleanWhere Are We in Trump/Russia Investigations? NPR Security Editor Tells Us

We have investigations ongoing of the Trump campaign/Russia connection in the Senate, the House and with the Special Counsel appointed by the Interim Attorney General.
It seems we don’t have any one place to follow the events and with each entity conducting its own investigation, we as average citizens can feel like we’re drowning in a sea of terminology and confusion.
We can’t keep up or keep the news straight in our minds.
Philip Ewing, national security editor for National Public Radio (NPR), helps us traverse this confusing investigatory landscape.
Ewing breaks down the recent Senate hearings with Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers and former FBI Director James Comey.
Phil gives us an insiders-update on all of the Trump/Russia investigations. He points out and explains many of the nuances that we might otherwise miss.
We discuss “executive privilege,” “classified information,” “the Fifth Amendment,” “immunity,” and “contempt of Congress” among other procedural aspects of the testimony we have heard so far.
He also gives us insight on the workings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office, his recent attorney appointments to his staff, and how Mueller is coordinating his activities with the Senate.
We compare how the current investigations are similar to and different from the past Watergate scandal and impeachment proceedings.
We also look at how the White House and the Trump Administration are responding. And, we talk about the role of the news media in covering this process and uncovering stories that actually help propel the investigations.
Throughout the ongoing investigations, Ewing will periodically visit with us to help the average American gain understanding of the processes and events. He will act as our translator and our guide.

CleanStorytelling is the Backbone of Advertising Regardless the Delivery System

Authenticity and great storytelling combine to form the backbone of good advertising, according to advertising expert Chuck Borghese.
Borghese is an award-winning veteran of the creative side of advertising having spent nearly four decades in the business and charting its changes over time.
He notes that in the days of Mad Men advertising executives, up through the early 1960’s, that most advertising was based on “authority.” The advertisers, according to Borghese, told consumers what they wanted and even down to dictating the colors that would be most popular.
Beginning in the mid 1960’s until now, he claims that most effective advertising is being based on “authenticity.” He says that this is especially true in the era of heightened social media. If a product is not authentic or the message is not accurate, people on social media will be talking about it immediately. Social media can destroy an advertising campaign in a heartbeat, Borghese says.
No matter how advertising messages are delivered in the “Digital Age”, Borghese says that the need for relatable storytelling will never change. He notes the heart of effective advertising is to tell a great story that connects with the potential consumer.
Advertising is really becoming more like public relations, according to Borghese, meaning that stories need to be tailored specifically to the needs of the consumers.
He notes that when information about a certain product that the user looked at online follows that user to almost every site the user visits, it can be considered badgering by the potential consumer. However, if the product is connected to a story that resonates with the Internet user, then the messages, no matter how many, have greater value and will become more effective.
Although the delivery systems for advertising are changing at breakneck speed, the core for advertising agencies success is how they mesh the product with the needs or desires of the consumer in an authentic and not a fabricated way.
If advertisers can do that then they will be successful whether its 2017 or 2025, Borghese predicts.
Borghese started his advertising career in Detroit where he managed the campaigns of large consumer brands. He then became creative director at Ogilvy and Mather in Atlanta. His next move was to go to New York City where he worked for two agencies, topping his career at DDB agency working for one of the pioneers of authentic creative advertising Bill Bernbach.
Borghese currently is a guest lecturer in Strategic Communication in the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and also is continuing his career with a new worldwide advertising agency.

CleanThe US is Factionalized – Only Held Together by Geography says Linda Tirado

Linda Tirado, author and activist, has written and spoken around the globe about what it's like to be poor in America. She now has a new project. She is seeking truth about our democracy by traveling the country and interviewing voters in the last Presidential election to find their current reaction to the Trump Administration and to the apparently stalled Congress.
Tirado is finding that we have groups of disparate people living in the same geographical country but most people no longer having common goals or purposes. She contends “factionalism” has never been this bad. She challenges whether we even have a “country” beyond geography.
This great divide is breeding danger: increased violence and a rise of the American style of fascism, according to Tirado.
She notes that reporters, just doing their job, are not safe and that far right-wing political people blame the news media for spreading lies and “fake news” as is trumpeted by President Trump. She cites the recent assault on a reporter covering the Montana congressional race.
She notes that many of the poor people who were depending on Trump to give them jobs and protect their interests are disappointed and their negative feelings are rapidly growing. As a result, Tirado contends they will probably not vote in future elections. Neither, Republicans nor Democrats should count on them voting – period.
She also contends that this administration is under attack at so many levels – Congressionally, foreign-policy wise, and the investigations of Russian interference and collusion that the average person cannot follow everything happening. She calls it a “fever dream of lunacy.”
It is Tirado’s contention that when people of overwhelmed that they turn off and pull inward back to their own lives and their local and family environments.
In October 2014, Tirado’s book,” Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America” was published and has emerged as an extremely meritorious book about living in poverty in America. About 43.1 million Americans live in poverty and some experts challenge that number as being too low.
Yet, poor people are routinely ignored by society and even chastised for not being able to work themselves out of poverty. Many, however, became a major factor in Trump’s victory in this past election.
Tirado challenges traditional political thinking, fly-over reporting by news organizations, and our misunderstandings of what it is truly like to be poor in this country. She is now on assignment from major publications to determine how and what Americans are truly thinking and believing.

CleanWhite House Is Often in Turmoil but It Reflects the Style of President Trump

This White House is run differently than the West Wings of past Presidents. Those were based on fairly rigid protocols, roles, traditions and procedures. This White House is not the norm. It sometimes appears to be chaotic but it actually reflects the temperament, the personality and the style of its primary occupant – President Donald Trump.
“It’s not better or worse…it’s just what the President wants,” says TIME Washington Correspondent Philip Elliott.
Some traditional roles are quite different than with past Presidents. For example, the Chief of Staff position usually is a strong position and the Chief often has acted, in the past, as almost a surrogate President. Long-time Washington veteran Reince Priebus holds that position but most assuredly does not have the power of past Chiefs.
Instead, under President Trump, that power role is most often played by Vice President Mike Pence, according to Elliott. He says that Trump relies on Pence for traditional Washington power and procedure. The President feels some comfort with Pence around him. Pence allows Trump to be Trump – unpredictable and transparent.
Despite his ongoing battles with the news media, President Trump is one of the most transparent Presidents in modern times. He often says what he feels or uses Twitter to transmit it directly to millions of people, says Elliott.
He has a rotating group of people that he brings close to him, depending on his mood and the issue. He will be close to one person one day and another on the next day. It sometimes seems totally random, according to Elliott.
President Trump also is learning the relationship between branches of government especially between the executive and the legislative branches.
The Trump administration, for example, has sent a proposed budget to Congress that according to most observers is “dead on arrival.” According to most pundits, it has no chance of passing in anything close to its present form.
One senior Senate staffers called it nothing but “pixie dust”, according to Elliott.
Yet, Trump submitted this budget with its slashing provisions -- because he said he would, says Elliott. If it doesn’t get passed, then Trump can shift all blame to Congress – regardless the fact that the Congress is predominantly Republican.
Unless there is a major legal problem with the Presidency, Elliott truly doesn’t see it changing much throughout the remainder of Trump’s term. In short, the Presidency is the way Trump wants it to be – unpredictable, volatile and powerful.

This is a special edition of SPECTRUM featuring intelligence expert, David Crane.
The way President Trump is dismissive of “intelligence briefings” and makes disclosure decisions without prior consultation with intelligence experts causes grave concern to a long time security veteran.
Recently, the news has focused on security gaffes in the White House. Some reports have said that President Trump gave the Russians intelligence information that was classified at the highest level of secrecy.
It is reported, by Trump’s National Security Advisor, that he made the decision to do so “on-the-spot” without any prior consultation with his security team.
His National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said at a press briefing that before making the disclosures, the President did not know the source of the information or from where the information came.
Although McMaster claims the President’s disclosures to the Russians were “wholly appropriate,” many experts question the wisdom of such spur-of-the moment Presidential decisions to share highly secretive information without consulting with the security team first.
To understand exactly what happened and what the “intelligence terminology” we hear means…We’ve called in an expert -- David Crane.
Crane spent over 3 decades in top-level Intelligence work for the government. He helped create and was the founding director of the Office of Intelligence Review in the Department of Defense. He is an international law specialist and has acted as a prosecutor of war crimes for the United Nations.
Crane is very concerned about how this Administration is handling intelligence and what the dire ramifications could be. He is troubled by the President’s seemingly casual attitude about “intelligence” and his dismissive policies toward “briefings” by veteran intelligence officers.
He also describes how the President’s mishandling of critical information can put other countries and individuals in jeopardy as well as the United States.

World-renowned international lawyer and national security expert David Crane is heading the Syria Accountability Project to hold Syrian governmental and faction leaders accountable for thousands of verified war crimes.
He and his group are building war crime cases and trial packages against Syrian government and faction leaders. To date, Crane’s group has verified over 8,000 pages of individual war crimes.
Crane is building conflict maps and criminal law matrix to help international, national and local prosecutors in Syria try and convict war criminals. He also has compiled a massive data base and incident index. He even has prepared model indictments against named Syrian leaders.
Crane brings a wealth of experience to this effort. He was the lead prosecutor in war crimes trials for the United Nations against Sierra Leone and other leadership in the 1.2 million massacre of its citizens in that 11 year civil war. His work resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia. This was only the second time in history that a former head of state was convicted of war crimes.
He also helped create and was the founding director of the Office of Intelligence Review in the Department of Defense.
Throughout his illustrious career, Crane has been able to apply the rule of law to chaotic situations whether they are foreign or domestic.
Domestically, he is a firm believer that the U.S. Constitution guides everything. He cites that statutes, regulations and policies may come and go but the Constitution is always present with strong guiding principles to follow.
Crane is currently a Professor of Practice at the Syracuse University College of Law. He also is a member of the faculty of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism at Syracuse University.

The job of the editorial teams at National Geographic is to make a “round world” come to life on a “flat plane” of a magazine, a web-screen, a phone or other mobile device. That, often, is a big challenge.
Kaitlin Yarnall is Deputy Director for the Centers of Excellence in Journalism, Mapping and Photography at the National Geographic Society.
She also has been the lead editorial manager for National Geographic’s 2014 multi-year, multimedia food initiative – to examine all aspect of food in our lives. It has been the most commercially successful editorial initiative in the history of National Geographic.
Yarnall’s designs for Geographic have won numerous awards.
She claims that even in the 21st century that maps have relevance. In fact, she claims that maps are making resurgence in our lives. Despite electronic GPS and other tracking methods, ordinary maps give individuals context and perspective that other electronic tracking devices do not, says Yarnall.
Along with graphics, photos, and other interactive features, maps and graphic depictions also make stories come to life. They broaden a reader’s perspective beyond the mere print and text of a story.
Editorial teams at National Geographic spend a great amount of time on the marriage between text, photos, graphics and maps. All are powerful storytelling elements when combined.
Yarnall also says that background data and data presentation can be critical to a story. Data must be presented a multiple levels, according to Yarnall.
Some basic data should be presented for someone who wants just some cursory background but other times, big data must be presented for those who want to dig deep on a particular subject.
Yarnall also notes that graphic designers for news and features must examine video gaming presentations and theories on how to engage people with the topic at a high interest level.
She claims that storytellers can take a great deal of information and tips on making stories more engaging from game developers.

CleanNPR’s Bob Boilen Has Shaped a Whole New Generation of Music Lovers

National Public Radio’s Bob Boilen has shaped the way an entire generation consumes music. During his 20 plus year career at NPR, Boilen has served as creator and host of the online series “All Songs Considered” and created the increasingly celebrated “Tiny Desk Series.”
Earlier, he was producer and director for the afternoon news show “All Things Considered.”
Sound is important to Boilen. He grew up in a noisy Brooklyn neighborhood and he recalls falling in love with the sound of a baseball card tucked in the spokes of his bicycle as a child. Throughout his young adulthood, he worked at record stores, which acquainted him with a diversity of musical knowledge that would carry him throughout his professional career.
After growing disillusioned with the nature of the recording business, Boilen sold his car and bought a synthesizer, subsequently becoming one of the first musicians to extensively utilize sound sampling in the late 1970’s. His band, “Tiny Desk Unit”, continues to release at least one record per year.
Last year, Boilen released a book, “Your Song Changed My Life,” It examines the intimate power of pop songs through the perspectives of musicians such as Pokey LaFarge, Jeff Tweedy, Colin Meloy and many others.
Spectrum’s Arts and Culture reporter Emily Votaw spoke with Boilen about his lifelong fascination with the nature of sound; the many ways he enjoys live musical performances, and his deep-set belief that there isn’t such a thing as a “bad song.”

Nicole J. Phillips once had a personal life in turmoil until she discovered the gift of giving kindness to others and to herself.
Outwardly, she appeared to have it all: a prominent and loving husband, three beautiful children, and a job as a television news anchor. It was a life that most people would only dream about and fight to get. Yet, Nicole was “miserable.”
She was depressed and engaged in self-destructive behaviors that drew her away from her marriage and her family. In addition, she carried resentments from her tortured childhood and “venom” towards her mom who Nicole thought abandoned her as a child.
However, one day about seven years ago, Nicole committed a random act of kindness towards another young woman and felt an exhilaration that she had never experienced before. She wanted to replicate that feeling and knew that if she could, it would change her life.
Nicole started performing other acts of kindness and began writing a weekly syndicated newspaper column about “kindness.” She began using the concept of kindness to repair relationships in her life. It helped her harness her depression, reconcile with her mother, lose weight and eliminate other unhealthy choices.
The concept of “kindness” was so powerful that she decided to write a book – telling stories of kindness called “Kindness is Contagious: 100 Stories to Remind You God is Good and So are Most People.”
Then in 2015, Nicole was diagnosed with breast cancer. Undeterred through her surgeries and many treatments, Nicole says she used “kindness as chemotherapy.” She practiced giving kindness to others and as she did, she felt that she removed herself from the dark clouds of cancer hanging over her.
Now, she is an unflinching “advocate for kindness.” She is trying to spread its joy and its healing powers to others through her columns, her blogs, her speeches and her book.
Nicole is truly a woman on a mission.

It is Will Cooper’s firm belief that the American judicial system doesn’t value the lives of poor black women and therefore, their stories of abuse, deprivation and courage are seldom told by mainstream media. Their conditions are ignored by politicians, he argues.
If their stories are told, Cooper contends that mainstream media “sanitizes” the stories so as to not offend the sensitivities and stereotypes of audiences.
Today is the last of a three-part weekly Spectrum Podcast series examining issues surrounding race, media and politics and the interrelationships between the three.
Cooper, a Senior Editor for VICE Media Inc. in New York City covers race and law enforcement for VICE among other topics.
He has a unique perspective of institutional racism and the criminal justice system. Being the son of two Cleveland police officers, he has seen the judicial system from all sides.
He has produced both long-form and shorter stories and he also has produced critically acclaimed full-length documentaries.
Additionally, he has written a series of essays and investigative reports about race among other topics.
Cooper says that VICE is different from mainstream media. It tells stories from a “unique perspective” – from the reporter’s perspective.
VICE allows its reporters to get involved in stories and not to sit on the sidelines. He claims that a VICE story is often told through a reporter’s personal involvement the reporter’s eyes.
Cooper sites as an example a series that he did on serial murders of poor black women in Cleveland. He started the series by taping a conversation he was having with his law enforcement parents about the short-comings of the investigations.
Cooper continued to tell the story from the perspective of being an African-American man in his hometown of Cleveland. Cooper argues that this type of “personal” reporting is better than the standard objective format used by other media.
More people can relate to a story if it is told from the perspective of someone who totally understands the issues or the people involved from first-hand experience, according to Cooper.
He cites his love for the “new journalism” movement promoted by writers such as Truman Capote and Hunter S. Thompson. Personal involvement was the cornerstone of that era of journalism.

This is part two of our three part series on race, media and politics.
Washington Post’s Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Wesley Lowery covers law enforcement, justice and he served as the lead reporter for The Post in Ferguson, Missouri.
He has covered the Black Lives Matter Movement for a number of years. And, in November, he had a book published called “They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era In America’s Racial Justice Movement.”
Lowery has traveled the country studying cases where African Americans have been shot by police and talking with community organizers and residents. He has chronicled the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
He notes that the inflammatory political rhetoric during the 2016 Presidential Campaign took the spotlight away from the movement which had been gaining momentum. Politicians often denigrated Blacks and other urban dwellers. The media covered this desecration as part of “normal” campaign coverage
Urban citizens were characterized by politicians as being violent, angry, desperate, and out-of-control. Neighborhoods are often characterized as being “war-zones.”
Lowery also says that politicians often “dehumanize” urban dwellers similar to the way soldiers dehumanize the enemy. If someone is less than human, then one doesn’t care what happens to that person. They get what they deserve according to the rhetoric.
Dehumanizing equals desensitizing. Both are negative to urban dwelling blacks and other people of color, according to Lowery.
Lowery also is critical of media – especially broadcast – for filing our homes with negative and misleading images of Blacks.
For example, Lowery has often gone to neighborhoods just outside areas of major demonstrations and found that most people were living their lives in a normal fashion while the demonstration was going on just blocks away. But, he says, those images are never shown.
Instead, we just see the glaring images of angry black men and women who appear out-of-control and dangerous. They are not the whole neighborhood or the majority of urban citizens. Yet, they are what the media characterizes as the typical inner city dweller.

In this special edition, Spectrum breaks down the Trump Administration’s recent actions against climate change into plain English that everyone can understand.
To help us with that, we are assisted by Dr. Geoffrey Dabelko, Professor and Director of the Environmental Studies Program at the George V. Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University.
For 15 years prior to that, Dr. Dabelko served as director of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He continues to work as a senior advisor to the Wilson Center.
Dr. Dabelko knows climate change but also knows how to assess the strengths and weaknesses of governmental policies.
Although President Trump, when he signed new Executive orders last week nullifying most of President Obama’s climate change efforts, told coal miners that they would be getting their jobs back, Dr. Dabelko doubts that is true. He argues that economics are preventing coal jobs and not climate regulations. The whole energy field, according to Dabelko, has moved beyond coal and into cheaper and cleaner fuels.
He also explains how the new Trump policies could interfere with economic growth in the clean energy sector giving advantages to China and other European countries like France and Germany over the United States in developing new products and processes.
Dr. Dabelko states that it will be a long, complicated and difficult process for the Trump Administration and its EPA to rewrite the Clean Power Plan and its regulations that closed hundreds of coal-fueled power plants and halted construction on others.
He also believes it will be difficult, if not impossible, for the United States to extricate itself from the 2015 multi-country Paris Agreement on climate change actions. Instead, he believes that the Trump Administration just will not have the USA comply with the provisions of the accord.
Dr. Dabelko also notes that 13 to 15 states have adopted President Obama’s approach to climate change actions and those states will challenge, in court, the dismantling of the similar federal statutes and regulations. In short, lawsuits over President Trump’s actions will abound slowing his dismantling efforts.

Researcher and former photojournalist Danielle Kilgo asserts that African Americans are negatively stereotyped by the mainstream media – especially in photos and video.
Danielle Kilgo is receiving her doctorate from the University of Texas-Austin and next fall will start teaching in The Media School at Indiana University. She has been part of a research team at the University of Texas.
Her research analyzes the visual images of African Americans in the media. She contends that both Black men and women are often portrayed in a derogatory light. She also has some interesting observations about photographing political candidates and how images can alter campaigns.
Prior to starting her academic life, Kilgo worked as a photographer, designer and writer – so she fully understands the job of collecting and publishing images of people in a fair and unbiased manner.
In the podcast, Kilgo talks specifically about unfair depictions of black men and women and how these images frame political discourse and public impressions.
She contrasts how whites participating in a protest or demonstration are portrayed in a more positive context than blacks who protest an injustice. Whites are characterized as having justifiable outrage where blacks, most often, are portrayed as being angry and out-of-control.
Kilgo was a participant in the 2017 Schuneman Symposium for Photojournalism & New Media sponsored by the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism and the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University. This year’s Symposium focused, in part, on media and racial issues.

Ian Mullins, 40, is a professional mountain biker based in Seattle. He started taking a drug in 2008 to ease pain after a bicycle accident. The drug, Tramadol, not only stopped his pain but improved his performance by allowing him to race through any physical discomfort. Soon, he was addicted.
For seven years, he struggled with addiction to the painkiller. Eventually, it took over his life. He then needed the drug just to keep from being sick from withdrawal.
When he couldn’t get Tramadol, he took other medications trying to get the same feeling and to keep the sickness at bay: hydromorphone, Percocet, Codeine syrup, fentanyl, and some forms of Benadryl. Most of the time, however, he found a street supply of prescription grade Tramadol to use.
In 2015, Mullins bottomed out. His life was falling apart due to his addiction. At that point, he started his road to recovery which has not always been smooth. He has battled depression and other emotional and psychological issues entwined with drug addiction and sobriety. But, he continues his quest.
As part of his recovery, Mullins is warning cyclists and other athletes about the dangers of Tramadol. A study by the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) shows that 80 percent of Tramadol abuse occurs in the sport of cycling. It is routinely given to some racers, toward the end of a race, combined with caffeine to give them a finishing kick.
For four years the drug has been on WADA’s “watch list” but to date, it has not been banned by the agency.
Although the drug is still legal worldwide, Mullins has made significant headway with the US Anti-doping Agency. It is now pushing to have Tramadol added to the list of banned substances as a performance enhancing drug.
Mullins hopes that by sharing his story of addiction he will help other cyclists and athletes avoid the difficulties that he has encountered.

How safe are the special drug compounds you take or put in or on your body? Most people, today, think that they are pretty safe but that has not always been the case.
Back in 2012, the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts produced 18,000 vials of a contaminated steroid that was distributed across about 20 states.
The tainted compound, to date, has sickened 751 people with fungal meningitis and related illnesses. At last total, there were 64 deaths.
In 2015, the company reached a $200 million civil settlement to victims and various creditors but, as of today, nothing has been paid.
The federal government also has charged company head Barry J. Cadden, 50, with 96 criminal counts including 25 counts for racketeering acts of second-degree murder. A trial began in Boston on January 9 and the jury just started its deliberations on March 17.
No verdicts have been reached at the time of this recording. If convicted of the murder counts, Cadden could be facing life in prison.
Today, we talk with Ed Zatta, owner of RXQ Compounding LLC about new federal regulations to guarantee the safety of small batch drug compounding.
Before the New England Compounding Center disaster, each state regulated its own drug compounding firms. There are a patchwork of different laws and different safety inspection procedures.
After the tragedy, 18 states enacted new regulatory laws and the Federal Drug Administration created a new category of compounding called 503 (b) where each drug compound must be tested for sterility, potency, and whether any of its elements exceeded the “Beyond Use Date.” The new federal law began in January 2017
Zatta took advantage of the federal regulations and created a new “outsourcing facility” under the stricter federal guidelines before they were required.
It takes extra care and extra procedures to make drug compounds safe, according to Zatta. But, he thinks that the federal regulations ensure quality and safety for unsuspecting consumers. He asserts that the federal guidelines can prevent future tragedies such as the New England Compounding Center disaster.

CleanTime’s Phil Elliott Unmasks the Administration of the “Adlib President”

Philip Elliott has “seen it all” in Washington D.C. and today’s White House is nothing like he has ever seen before. It is “chaos” despite protestations to the contrary by Administration members and President Trump himself, according to Elliott.
Elliott has experienced the West Wing under three different administrations. He covered President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama for the Associated Press for over a decade and then switched to Time in 2015 to finish out the Obama Administration and cover the 2016 campaigns.
Now, he is watching mass confusion at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.: ad hoc meetings with seemingly random people by the President and a Chief of Staff (Reince Priebus) actually running from meeting to sometimes impromptu meeting trying to keep a handle on what’s going on minute by minute. Elliott calls President Trump the “Adlib President.”
It is quite a spectacle to observe compared to the meticulous organization of President Bush and the intense pre-meeting preparation by President Obama.
Although the chaotic atmosphere is grist for a reporter’s mill, Elliott thinks it is disruptive for the country and the Washington political establishment.
Elliott also doesn’t relish being a target for Presidential abuse. He says it is uncomfortable, to a degree, to be characterized by the President as an “enemy of the American people” by being a working journalist. However, Elliott says that the barbed criticism and hyperbole has made him check and re-check his stories. In short, it has made him a more accurate and thorough journalist. The criticism has backfired.
Targeting the media also has caused reporters to be placed in dangerous situations on the campaign trail making reporters and news organization enlist special security protections, according to Elliott.
Despite his concerns about being a target, Elliott concedes that we are witnessing “a first” in American politics. We have a President who has mastered social media concepts and knows exactly how to change the conversation from uncomfortable topics by Tweeting something new and outrageous.
Trump also has a direct link to his constituents without going through reporters to deliver his messages. We have never had such direct communication, according to Elliott, and he feels, the rules of politics have changed forever.
Elliott is a graduate of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.

Philip Ewing, National Security Editor for National Public Radio (NPR), gives us his insights into the National Security Council, President Donald Trump’s proposed military budget, the ongoing investigation of Russian ties to the Trump campaign and ISIS.
Ewing has been the National Security Editor since November 2015 but he also has had almost a decade of prior experience covering military and defense issues in Washington.
He echoes the general consensus that Lt. General H.R. McMaster is a wise choice for National Security Advisor. However, Ewing outlines some areas for potential conflict between McMaster and President Trump’s Senior Advisor and political strategist Stephen Bannon.
Ewing suggests that Bannon won the first conflict with McMaster. The National Security Advisor suggested to President Trump that he no long use the term “radical Islamic terrorism” in public discourse. Trump, however, heeded Bannon’s contrary advice and used the term with emphasis in his speech before a joint session of Congress last week.
Ewing states that potential battles between McMaster and Bannon will be interesting to watch as they evolve. They will encompass the internal battle between national security/military interests and political interests and rhetoric.
President Trump’s proposed increase in his military budget amounts to a $54 billion or about a 10 percent jump in defense spending. Ewing, however, notes that there were no details given about how that money is to be spent or in reality, how the money will be raised without a tax increase. The feasibility of the proposal is, therefore, unclear.
Ewing also said that for the next several months or more, Washington will be fixated with the various investigations of potential Russian ties to the Trump campaign. He asserted that the leak about Attorney General Session’s questionable testimony to the Senate about his Russian involvement was timed to take any gloss off of Pres. Trump’s speech to Congress the night before. He does not foresee any quick resolution of these issues.
Finally, Ewing suggests that the national security story to watch in the future is what the Trump Administration will do in its war against ISIS. How will it play out and will it involve a commitment of US ground troops to Syria or other spots in the Middle East?

Dr. Richard Vedder, Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity in Washington, DC, notes that the costs of higher education have increased markedly in recent years while the value of a college degree may be diminishing.
To counteract these trends, he says that colleges and universities must implement reforms and modernize. But, the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics at Ohio University notes that reform is an alien concept to many administrators and faculty in high education. In short, universities are reluctant to change and when change occurs it is at the slowest of glacial paces.
Dr. Vedder notes that the costs of higher education have doubled since the mid- 1990’s yet family incomes have not kept pace. He also cites that the cost of college has increased 16.5% between 2006 and 2014..
He also claims that nearly 40 million Americans have college debt which collectively equals about $1.3 trillion dollars.
Yet, the gap between the earning power of a college graduate and a non-graduate is narrowing. In 2014, the earning differential between a college graduate and a high school graduate fell 11 percent for men and 19.7 percent for women ages 25-34, according to the College Board.
To stay relevant, Dr. Vedder says colleges and universities must reform and modernize but many are reluctant to do so. New and cheaper educational delivery systems must be employed and efforts to curtail costs must become a priority. Technology must be more widely used.
He cites Ohio’s proposed cap on textbook costs at $300 per year per student as an example of curtailing fees. Any costs over that amount would be borne by the institutions – thereby, giving administrative financial incentives to rethink the use of traditional text books.
He thinks greater use of online courses and non-traditional teaching methods would cut costs and perhaps even make the educational experience more relevant to the real professional world.
Finally, Dr. Vedder criticizes the “countryclubization” of the college living experience for students as a factor inordinately driving up higher education costs. He cites that many institutions are more concerned with the social amenities offered students in their living environments than the quality of their educational experience.

Minnesota trial judge Kevin Burke is concerned about negative public perceptions of our courts – especially among people of color.
People too often believe they are treated unfairly and that judges are biased and make their decisions based upon “political views” and not the law. They also think judges are not understandable and that court processes are mysteries.
Judge Burke is on a mission to stem this negative tide. He has studied this issue, done surveys, written about it and is lecturing extensively to judicial groups across the country.
Judge Burke says to counteract the problem, judges need to do a better job with basic “procedural fairness” – making sure everyone feels they are being treated fairly and that people understand what a judge does in court…and why.
He says judges, not only need to explain what they do in understandable terms, but they need to listen better to people who want to tell their story.
Judge Burke believes that people don’t trust what they don’t understand and that it is a duty of every judge to make sure each party understands what the court is doing. If this happens, according to the judge, compliance with court orders increases, recidivism decreases, and public perception improves.
He is a proponent of giving parties before the court “voice and respectful treatment.” In that way, judges can foster a sense of neutrality and fairness.
If judges follow guidelines for procedural fairness, Judge Burke argues that perceptions of the judicial system will improve and become positive instead of negative.

Award-winning journalist and former Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander just finished co-authoring an in-depth report for National Public Radio about the death of two of its journalists in Afghanistan in June.
He is a strong proponent of increased security measures for reporters in a world ravaged with wars and terrorism. He also promotes improved security for reporters being threatened at home in the USA.
Alexander asserts that it is more dangerous today for reporters in conflict areas than ever before. Although technology is a great asset that allows reporters to generate stories instantaneously from around the world, it also creates a major security risk through GPS tracking and hacking opportunities.
Not only can reporters’ locations be pinpointed by terrorists but news sources can often be identified through electronics and then punished by opposing groups.
To counteract the dangers, Alexander proposes several security measures including hiring outside security firms to assist with security and major security training and protocols for both reporters and editors who are working in high risk parts of the globe.
Alexander notes that threats to domestic reporters also are on the rise. He cites several violent incidents during the presidential campaign, especially with supporters of President Donald Trump.
As reporters and the news media are further demonized by government officials, Alexander is fearful that these incidents and threats will escalate. He suggests the use of some of the same security measures domestically that are applied to war zones.
In addition to prevention measures, Alexander notes that often reporters who cover human tragedy and wars suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after their respective assignments. He feels the news organizations should be aware of that possibility and offer “peer to peer” awareness programs to help reporters who may be suffering.

A new documentary “Paul Laurence Dunbar: Beyond the Mask” is being distributed to public television stations across the nation through the National Educational Telecommunications Association. The film highlights the life and legacy of the first African American to achieve national acclaim as a writer.
The documentary is the result of a collaboration of three Ohio University faculty members: Dr. Judith Yaross Lee – Distinguished Professor in Communication Studies, Dr. Joseph Slade, Professor Emeritus in Media Arts and Studies and Emeritus Director of the Central Region Humanities Center and director, writer, producer and filmmaker Frederick Lewis.
Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio to former slaves in 1872 and died at age 34 in 1906. He is often remembered for his poem “We Wear the Mask.” He also is honored because one of his lines from “Sympathy” became the title of Maya Angelou’s autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”
He also wrote essays against Jim Crow laws and lynching and he became friends with many African-American leaders of his time. Although he was considered an intellectual, he wrote many of his poems and stories in “Plantation Dialect.”
During his short life, in addition to his poetry and essays, he also composed songs for Broadway.
As a youth, he was a neighbor and friends with Orville and Wilbur Wright in Dayton. They, in fact, printed Dunbar’s African American newspaper on their printing press.
This documentary, eight years in the making, is a production of the Central Region Humanities Center and received support from Ohio Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Recently the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released the results of a post-election national survey of 50,000 teenagers between 13 and 18 years old. Some 70 percent reported witnessing bullying, hate messaging, or harassment since the election with racial bias being the “most common motive cited.”
These incidents are far more frequent than before, according to the survey, and they seemed to escalate markedly after the beginning of the presidential campaigns.
The participating young people said 70 percent of the incidents were based on race or ethnicity, 63 based upon sexual orientation and 59 percent “motivated by immigration status.”
Gayle Williams-Byers, an African American mother and trial judge in Northeast Ohio, is increasingly concerned about these alarming trends. She fears that the national rhetoric surrounding the presidential campaigns has given license to some people to act-out their racial hatred and prejudices.
“Words have power and too often hate-words can be translated into harmful actions,” Judge Gayle says. “That harm often is irreparable.”
“I have never seen a time with the potential for such deep divisions between the races and different ethnic and religious groups,” Judge Gayle added. She fears if this trend continues unabated that we could, in this country, have “our own civil war over race.”
She is concerned that we have an “unsettled American conscience” and that actions at the federal level of government have left room for hate to jump into our national psyche and overt behaviors.
From a judicial viewpoint, she is concerned that hate crimes, vandalism, and targeted offenses against minorities and certain religious groups will escalate leading to greater divides between races and religions.

Megan Westervelt left graduate school with some experience under her belt and some uniquely creative ideas in her head about how she could capture environmental photos.
She labels herself a Conservation Photojournalist which means she tells stories with her still and video cameras about human impact on the environment.
While still in school, she did an in-depth story on exotic animal ownership in Ohio and photo story about human interaction with the coastal environment of oil rich eastern Scotland.
Upon graduation she packed her bags and headed to Ecuador. Her first project was to document the lives of local artisan women in Loja Province and their battle with a parasitic disease called Chagas disease. The women sell their unique artwork to pay for a battle against the disease decimating their population. Westervelt captured that battle on film.
Her second project was working in the Yasuni National Park in the Amazonian portion of Ecuador to create a museum exhibition about biodiversity and some of the traditional cultures of the region.
Specifically, Westervelt concentrated on one group of people who have their own indigenous language and who, most assuredly, are not part of modern life. These people have their own traditions and their own unique way of life that spurns modern conveniences.
Not only did Westervelt capture their culture herself but she put cameras in the hands of 50 of the local residents. She taught them how to take pictures and the group, itself, added to the photo array depicting an almost extinct culture. They created their own photo history.
Their photos were displayed at a major showing in their home country of Ecuador. And, most recently, this photo exhibition was displayed at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University – where Westervelt got her graduate degree in Visual Communication.

CleanAmerica’s System of Athletics is Failing: Expert David Ridpath Has Observed

The American system of amateur athletics is mostly school based: elementary, middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities. Yet, that system is failing both the student-athlete and the general public, according to Dr. David Ridpath, the Kahandas Nandola Professor of Sports Administration at Ohio University.
With a school based system, too many students are “cut” from competitive athletics at an early age and therefore, do not receive the benefits of physical activity throughout their school life, according to Dr. Ridpath.
He also complains that stellar student athletes too often get special benefits to keep them eligible to play – especially at the college and university levels. This, according to Dr. Ridpath, deprives the student-athlete of a broad and useful education. He claims to have known student athletes that have been illiterate when they left their university athletic programs prior to graduation.
Dr. Ridpath also challenges that notion that major athletic success at a college or university brings long term benefits to the institution. It might bring a short-term blip in applications and donations but Ridpath says there is no proof of long-term benefits.
Instead of concentrating on a school based system of athletics, Ridpath suggests in his new and upcoming book that American should embrace the European model of club sports based in communities.
He says that club sports would be more inclusive of a wider swath of the population and include both young and older participants – thereby allowing our country to become more athletic and more physically fit.
Although community-club sports would cost some taxpayer dollars to support, Dr. Ridpath feels that it would be money well spent and would lower health-care costs in the nation.
Dr. Ridpath is a frequent media commentator about college and university athletics. He has appeared on ESPN and other television networks. He also writes an ongoing blog for Forbes magazine. It can be read at http://www.forbes.com/sites/bdavidridpath/#7d7f2c9c1bef.
He also wrote the 2012 book Tainted Glory: Marshall University, the NCAA, and One Man’s Fight for Justice.

To the vast majority of scientists, climate change exists and it has been exacerbated over the years by human factors.
However, not all politicians agree and most assuredly, most of the dissenters from this proposition reside in the Republican Party – the party now in power.
The GOP now controls both houses of Congress plus the White House and regulatory agencies.
The fact that climate change deniers now hold power, gives some scientists pause and reason for concern. The future of America’s reaction to world climate change issues and previous agreements and accords hang in the balance, according to climate change expert Dr. Geoffrey Dabelko of Ohio University.
Dr. Dabelko is a professor and director of Environmental Studies at Ohio University in the Voinovich School for Leadership and Public Affairs. He also has served as the director of the Environmental Change and Security Program – a non-partisan forum on environment, population, and security issues at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Dabelko talks about how climate change issues might fare in the new Trump administration. He outlines specific worries and concerns from a scientist’s perspective.
To many scientists, time is of the essence, in addressing climate change issues on a global basis. They fear that during the upcoming administration that the United States might become more isolated on this issue and out of touch with other powerful members of the global community, Dr. Dabelko claims.
This, he says, could lead to other countries, like China, taking the lead on renewable resource development and alternatives to fossil based fuels.
Dabelko stresses that there are multiple global problems caused by climate change from the loss of the polar icecaps to issues surrounding the production of food and health concerns. It is difficult, if not impossible, he says, to unravel one problem from another because so many global issues are entwined with climate change.
He is concerned that the United States might chose to ignore the existence of many of these problems, thereby, abdicating its role in solving them.

CleanVirtual Reality and Augmented Reality Are For More than Just Gaming

Be prepared in the next couple of years for “virtual reality” (VR) and “augmented reality” (AR) to be more and more parts of your daily lives – from health and medicine to education, journalism and assistance in completing your daily chores.
Although many still see VR and AR as primarily for gaming, that image is no longer accurate. Total immersive experiences are being developed for training and for rehabilitation among other complicated and useful applications.
Researchers are exploring implementation of virtual reality to train physicians and allow them to experience trauma and virtual emergency situations, according to Josh Antonuccio, creator, educator, and researcher in the Immersive Media Initiative at Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication.
VR also is being explored in the treatment of PTSD and other forms of psychological disorders. Experiments are being done with it to help Alzheimer patients and people with limited mobility.
It also is being pursued as a journalistic/storytelling technique. It is a way to put the audience in the exact place of the reporter to see, observe, hear and sense exactly what is happening. People will be able to sense a story in addition to just hearing it, Antonuccio adds.
AG is not a fully immersive experience but it also can assist people in training and even doing daily and routine chores. For example, some medical schools are turning to AG cadavers for students to work with instead of real dead bodies. Disease diagnoses and treatment options also can be shared with multiple physicians simultaneously through AG imaging of body parts and systems.
Other AG applications can be used for data collection such as weather, traffic, and daily reminders of things to be done. AG will soon become a staple in any form of design work and architectural planning.
In short, the horizons for uses for VR and AR are expanding broadly and programs such as the Immersive Media Initiative at Ohio University are in the forefront of research and development for these new and exciting technologies.

Karen M. Chan, an actor, director and producer is merging old-time radio dramatic techniques with modern podcasting to bring a new, fresh approach to storytelling for public media.
Chan, a veteran of theater, television and film, has lately been concentrating her efforts on dramatizing works of literature for digital distribution by WOUB Public Media.
She uses unabridged works of literature and brings them to life using actors from Ohio University and the surrounding communities. She marries their dramatic dialogue with original music produced and played by regional musicians and original artwork to accompany the audio stories.
Her youngest actor has been 8 years old and the oldest in her mid-eighties. Over 150 different actors have been used to produce eight different works, to date.
Partnerships also have been established within Ohio University such as an ongoing alliance with the School of Media Arts and Studies in the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.
The stories are not only being shared publically but they have been used in classrooms and as vehicles for people to learn English as a second language. Chan recently was contacted by a Brazilian man who asked her to produce more stories so he can learn to speak English better.
Chan has had a lifelong love affair with radio dramas and the art of telling stories with one’s voice. She says her passion started as a young child as she would listen to radio dramas with her mother.
So far, Chan and WOUB Public Media have digitally produced: The Sleeping Beauty, Through the Looking Glass, Peter and Wendy, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, and O Henry’s The Ransom of Red Chief.
The Holiday favorites A Christmas Carol, The Gift of the Magi, and Twas the Night Before Christmas have also been created and are available to wide audiences.
New works are in progress including an original work about the Underground Railroad featuring an African-American cast. Additional stories are in various stages of development and production.
The existing stories can be heard at http://woub.org/ecousticalchemy/

CleanAddiction and “The Holidays” Can be a Toxic Mix – But, Help is Available

Ron Luce, a board member of the National Alliance for Recovery Residences and President of Ohio Recovery Housing, says “the Holidays” can be a troubling time for those addicted to drugs or alcohol –even those already in recovery.
Addiction is often linked with depression, according to Luce, and “the Holidays” can exacerbate emotions in the addict of isolation, shame and feelings associated with causing nothing but problems for family and friends.
Those negative feelings can even happen when someone is in “recovery.”
Therefore, relapses often occur for those in treatment during this time of year. These relapses occur most often in the first five years of recovery, says Luce.
Giving the recovering addict a sense of “community and connection” during this time is especially important.
Groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) have been historically instrumental in providing that sense of community and support. However, according to Luce, there are now multiple options for a recovering addict beyond AA.
No longer does the treatment community believe that only one type of program is advantageous for recovery. Instead, a buffet table of different types of programs is available and a recovering addict can pick the program(s) best suited for his or her successful rehabilitation.
One type of program available for the recovering alcoholic or addict is a “Recovery House.” People live together in a safe, sober, “home-like” environment to support each other as they attempt re-entry into sober life and activities.
These types of residences are now available in over 20 states and enhance a recovering addict’s chances for success, according to Luce. For the protection of the recovering addict, regulations are being put in place in many states to guarantee the legitimacy of houses offering these services.

Lara Stemple and her colleagues are leading the charge to change perceptions of sexual victimization and more accurately account for the gender of sexual perpetrators.
Stemple is the director of Graduate Studies at the UCLA School of Law and is the director of the Health and Human Rights Law Project.
Two recent studies have blazed the way. The first was published in April of 2014. It was co-written by Stemple and Ilan Meyer. “The Sexual Victimization of Men in American: New Data Challenge Old Assumptions” was published in the American Journal of Public Health.
When assessing five different federal surveys from 2010 to 2012, the research team concluded that sexual victimization of men in America was about equal to the prevalence found with women.
This first research work also showed women are perpetrators at much higher rates than commonly believed. That finding was the foundation for a second research work for the peer reviewed journal Aggression and Violent Behavior.
“Sexual Victimization Perpetrated by Women: Federal Data Reveal a Surprising Prevalence” by Stemple, Meyer and Andrew Flores was just released.
It records a high degree of sexual abuse and sexual victimization perpetuated by women on both boys and men. This cuts against the stereotypes of women as being “nurturing, submissive helpmate to men.”
The researchers say: “The idea that women can be sexually manipulative, dominant, and even violent runs counter to these stereotypes. Yet, studies have documented female-perpetrated acts that span a wide spectrum of sexual abuse.”
Historically, female perpetration has been minimized even among mental health and social work professionals. However, evidence shows that young boys abused by women are more reluctant to disclose their victimization by women than by men.
Often sexual abuse by women is mischaracterized as a “rite of passage” for the male and benign when, to the contrary, it is actually sexual abuse and produces long-term damage in the male.
This is especially true if the female perpetrator is the mother of her victim.

Andrew Alexander, former ombudsman for the Washington Post and former Washington bureau chief for Cox Newspapers, states that the media have epic struggles ahead in covering our new President Donald Trump.
However, he believes media should attack their jobs “fearlessly” and traverse this uncharted media landscape with impartiality and gusto.
Alexander notes that there has always been an adversarial relationship between the President and the media covering him. But, this time there are notable differences and the gulf appears wider.
Given President-elect Trump’s social media prowess, he can bypass traditional media and go directly to his 15 million followers with messages and comments. Past Presidents have not utilized social media in such a pervasive way. As a result, some people rely less on mainstream media and more on tweets and posts from the President himself.
Also, there are more media outlets today that ever in our history and fake news is threatening people’s ability to discern truth from fiction.
Alexander also notes that we seem to be in a “post-truth” period where fact-checking and noting the President-elect’s falsehoods has little impact on the general population’s perceptions.
He feels that despite set-backs during campaign coverage and general mistrust by many people of the press, that the media must play a vigilant watch-dog role during the Trump Administration and be even more vigilant than in the past.
Alexander also expressed grave concern that “press-baiting” by President Trump and the possible weakening our laws protecting a free and robust media will embolden repressive regimes around the world to take even more repressive actions against the international press corps.

Linda Tirado, author and activist, has for the past three years written and spoken around the globe about what it’s like to be poor in America. She now talks truth to power and explains why many poor people voted for Donald Trump to tear down the Washington “Establishments” of both parties.
Linda started her journey from the depths of poverty three years ago in October 2013. It began with an angry response to a poster on Gawker.com. The posting turned into an online essay “Why I Make Terrible Decisions or Poverty Thoughts” and it has now been read by over 20 million people.
Tirado became a viral sensation and encountered the slings and arrows that go with instant fame. Many supported her and applauded her for her honest examination of poverty from the inside out and others criticized her both personally and for her views.
She emerged from the conflagration with a book contract. In October 2014, her book, Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America was published and has emerged as an extremely meritorious book about living in poverty in America.
According to a study done by the Center for Poverty Research at the University of California-Davis, the official poverty rate in the USA is 13.5 percent – based upon the Census Bureau’s 2015 estimates. That means that an estimated 43.1 million Americans live in poverty and some experts challenge that number as being too low.
Yet, poor people are routinely ignored by society and even chastised for not being able to work themselves out of poverty.
Tirado challenges current political thinking about the poor, fly-over reporting by news organizations, and our misunderstandings of what it is truly like to be poor in this country.
She is outspoken and, some might say, brash. But, she is unapologetic about her views and her reputation of speaking truth to power as an activist, author, and journalist.
Tirado talks to Spectrum this week about the current state of politics and how poor people strangely identify with President-elect Donald Trump and want to tear down the current system in Washington, D.C.

CleanUber-Like Service for Rural America Being Launched by Valerie Lefler

Valerie Lefler is a young entrepreneur and innovator. Nationally, she is launching an “Uber-like” service for rural American that works together with existing transportation services and supplements options for rural residents.
Lefler is the Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Mobility Now, Inc. – currently headquartered in Nebraska. The demand for her services has exploded over the past year.
She currently is crisscrossing the country. She recently visited Ohio to assess the viability of bringing her services to this region. She met with groups, non-profits and governmental units who are planning the future of public transportation in this area.
Lefler offers a service that can provide 24 hour vehicle service using independent contractor drivers who have passed rigorous security checks. Their vehicles also meet critical standards for safety.
While visiting, Lefler took time to talk with SPECTRUM’s Tom Hodson about her company and her service.
There is considerable interest in transportation in rural regions as it relates to health, work opportunities, child care and quality of life for seniors, according to Lefler. Her service does not replace existing public transportation but it supplements it, thereby giving people additional options.
Currently, about 30 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural area and small towns. And, 40 percent of that population currently has no access to public transportation.
Lefler’s company was recently featured in a major article in The Atlantic. It was noted for its innovation. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/rural-ridesharing-nebraska/491360/

CleanAftermath and Reaction: Election Analysis from Two Targeted Groups

The rhetoric being espoused by candidate Donald Trump and some of his surrogates during the campaign caused fear and trepidation within several groups of people in America: such as immigrants, Muslims, the LGBTQ community and African-Americans.
Now that Trump has won the election and has become President-Elect Trump how do some of these groups feel about his ability to lead? Will their group be targeted for Presidential scrutiny or for negative actions to be taken by Presidential appointees?
SPECTRUM endeavored to find some answers from members of two of these communities. We spoke with delfin bautista* -- the director of the LGBTQ Center at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and an African-American mother and judge – Judge Gayle Williams Byers from South Euclid, Ohio in the southeast corner of Cuyahoga County near Cleveland.
delfin claims the LGBTQ community is currently confused, dazed and in a state of frustration. Many, according to delfin, have a defeatist attitude and are girding themselves for regression and for fights to come.
delfin states that progress has been made in civil rights over the last 10 years for the LGBTQ community but there are fears that all of the progress will disappear under a Trump Administration. There are special concerns since Vice President-Elect Mike Pence has taken over Trump’s transition efforts.
delfin notes that Pence was a strong proponent of a religious freedom act in Indiana that was perceived as being discriminatory against gays, lesbians, and transgendered individuals. Pence also is a believer in “conversion therapies” to revert gay people “back” to being heterosexual even though such efforts have been debunked by the psychological and medical professions.
Amidst the depression and despondency from the election, delfin has seen a new spark of spirit in many LGBTQ people and a sense of urgency to fight harder and stronger against prejudice and to avidly promote greater civil rights.
Judge Gayle Byers Williams said she will give people at the top of the Trump Administration a chance and she touts the benefits of having three equal branches of government -- each exercising checks and balances on the other.
She, however, expresses doubts that race relations will improve over the next four years. She said that she feels the real conversations about race and equality that had started in this country will cease and be replaced by heightened tensions, fear, and distrust.
She also noted, however, that her teenage son reacted even more strongly to the election results and started talking about fleeing to Canada because he fears African-Americans will be targeted for persecution and hatred.
He is a combination of angry, vocal and pensive all at once, according to Judge Gayle.
Judge Gayle is more optimistic. She feels that change will not come from Washington and cannot be mandated from the top down despite what the Trump Administration might do.
She feels that the new administration may breed a groundswell of grassroots/local counteractions that will build across the country. People will fight the perceived misuse or abuses of federal power at the local level with grassroots actions that will eventually negate any potential wrongdoing at upper levels.
Both delfin and Judge Gayle said there is a time for some people to mourn the election results but that there is a sense of urgency to regroup and refocus on the issues that need to be resolved in both the LGBTQ and the African-American communities.
*delfin bautista uses they/them pronouns and does not capitalize their name

Many more men than women are likely to become innovators or entrepreneurs.
Why is that?
Some experts say that there are fewer women in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics programs in colleges – commonly called STEM programs. And, there are fewer women in STEM professions overall. Therefore, there are fewer innovators in high tech industries.
Other experts argue that venture capital groups and other investors looking for startup companies are dominated by men and therefore, women innovators are often overlooked or passed over.
Some experts claim that there is a paucity of women entrepreneurial role-models and that discourages other women from pushing a new idea or concept.
Other women report that the entrepreneurial workspace is often a hostile work environment for women.
Spectrum talked with four women to get their perspectives. Three work directly with female innovators and entrepreneurs and one has lived a life of an entrepreneur by running her own corporation.
Jennifer Simon is the Executive Director of Regional Innovation at Ohio University and has spent the bulk of her professional career leading entrepreneurial efforts.
Carol Clark is one of the founders of X Squared Angels, a venture capital group that focuses on supporting diversity leadership in businesses across the Midwest.
Beverly E. Jones is an executive coach in Washington, D. C. and author of a new book Think Like and Entrepreneur Act Like a CEO.
Finally, we talked with Jane Grote Abell, the chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Donatos Pizza, Inc. She tells about her personal experience rising through the corporate ranks to now be the leader of and innovator within a major corporation with over 4,500 employees and over 165 locations in seven states. It had gross sales of $162 million last year.

The Presidential campaigns of 2016 have been dominated by the use of social media to convey messages and to lambast opponents.
Social media usage has not only increased but in this campaign, more and different audiences are being targeted.
In 2012, social media primarily was aimed at Millennials. However, in 2016, social media, generated by candidates, is being directed to all supporters, opponents, and the media alike.
Three noted experts on campaigns and social media gathered this week to talk with Spectrum about this phenomenon and the explosion of political social media in 2016.
Dr. Jerry Miller, a professor the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University, is an expert in candidate image creation. Dr. Karen Riggs is a professor in Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University and is the director of the Social Media Certificate Program. Dr. Laeeq Kahn teaches in the Media Arts and Studies Department but also heads The Social Media Analytics Research Team (SMART) Lab as part of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.
All agree that the use of social media in 2016 has been integrated into the campaign strategies of both major party presidential candidates.
Its use has been more limited and controlled by the Hillary Clinton campaign. Fewer tweets have actually been generated by the candidate.
Donald Trump’s use of social media has been more personalized and more spontaneous by the candidate, according to our panel of experts. It also has been more targeted with attacks on opponents, critics and the news media.
The use of social media, especially by the Trump campaign, also has substituted for traditional television and print advertising. It has been a cheaper and more targeted way for him to communicate with supporters, according to our group of professors.
Although “best practices” on the use of social media in campaigning have not yet emerged, both candidates are openly experimenting with different approaches and with different targeted audiences.

Clean“DISPEL THE CURSE” – A History of Superstition and Legend in Baseball

Some are calling the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians the “Apocalypse World Series.”
Both teams are not used to being the post season spotlight and most assuredly they are unfamiliar with winning the World Series…WHY? – Well, both teams supposedly have been under curses for over 50 years.
Brian Corbin, the real-time correspondent at Wrigley Field for mlb.com, explains Chicago’s malady.
The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908 and they have been under the “Curse of the Goat” since 1945.
In 1945, Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern owner Bill Sianis brought his pet goat Murphy to Wrigley Field for good luck. Because of Murphy’s stench, fans complained and Sianis and Murphy were banned from the ballpark. Sianis, in a fit of rage, proclaimed that the Cubs would win “no-more,” according to Corbin.
And, they haven’t. The Cubs have come close but something unforeseen always seems to happen to jinx Chicago quest. Corbin describes, in the podcast, some of the unusual circumstances thwarting the Cubs repeated efforts to win over the years.
Corbin also details some of the current player superstitions that are in play during this series to dispel the curse.
Matt LaWell is a native of Cleveland and a lifelong Indian fan. He has spent the bulk of his professional career writing about baseball and experiencing the game from multiple levels. His most memorable project was called “A Minor League Season” – which consisted of a five-month road trip with his wife Carolyn through 45 states and visiting 120 minor league baseball teams. Along the way, he wrote about the minor leagues and American. (He has a Facebook page – A Minor League Season https://www.facebook.com/AMinorLeagueSeason/ )
Cleveland has not won a world series since 1948 and in 1994, a Cleveland sports writer Terry Pluto traced the difficulty back to the untimely trading of Indian legend Rocky Colavito in 1960 to the Detroit Tigers for Harvey Kuenn, according to LaWell. It was a hugely unpopular trade and turned fan wrath on the then General Manager.
Since that date, the Indians have suffered misfortune after misfortune.
But, according to LaWell, since the Cleveland Cavaliers had such a remarkable come-from-behind championship win in this year’s NBA Finals – Clevelanders think that luck is shining on the City on the Lake. This just might be the year to bury the Colavito curse for the Tribe.
It is clear that one of these two unlikely adversaries, during this Halloween season, will shed its curse forever and the other will stumble forward still under the burden of the prevailing spell put upon it decades ago.

CleanTrump Bashes GOP Leaders to Consolidate His Base and Feed on Voter Anger

Veteran political observer and world renowned economist Dr. Richard Vedder analyzes Donald J. Trump’s unprecedented attacks on Republican high-ranking officials during a campaign and the intraparty fights led by the GOP’s presidential candidate.
Vedder, a long-time Republican and fiscal conservative, said this type of intraparty chaos is unprecedented. “It is unique,” Vedder says.
The only election close to this was when former President Theodore Roosevelt bolted from the GOP in 1912 to form the Bull Moose Party and challenge incumbent GOP President William Howard Taft, from Ohio. Both lost to the Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
Vedder claims that Trump sees himself more as a “populist” than a Republican. He is going after blue collar white voters regardless of party. His base crosses party lines. He, therefore, doesn’t care about the GOP “elite.”
Trump hopes to add to that base with GOP loyalists who also are angry with the Republican power elite, Vedder says.
Vedder says that this election is unique, not only because of Trump’s unprecedented campaign style but because both candidates (Republican and Democrat) are “morally despicable” to the average voter.
Despite the intraparty wrangling in the GOP, Vedder thinks pundits may have written Trump off too soon. Vedder is less trusting of polls in this election than in others and he feels there is a hidden Trump vote. He thinks people are afraid to admit that they will vote for Trump but they still may do so in the privacy of the voting booth.
He does feel, however, that the intraparty fighting could hurt down-ballot U. S. Senate and House of Representative races for the Republicans.
Kyle Kondik, a professional campaign and election expert with no political bias, believes, that Trump’s recent slide in the polls puts him too far behind in Electoral College votes to catch up by Election Day.
Kondik notes that Trump is falling further behind in most swing states, with the exception of Ohio. Kondik believes, however, that Ohio is still a toss-up state. He reminds us that no Republican has ever won the Presidency without carrying Ohio but Democrats have. He believes Trump must win Ohio to have a chance but Hillary Clinton need not take Ohio to win the Presidency.

CleanThousands of Blacks Die Annually Due To Health Care Disparities and Biases

A new book claims that nearly 84,000 black and brown lives are lost each year in the United States due to health care disparities and unconscious racial and ethnic bias in the health care professions.
Dayna Bowen Matthew just released a new book Just Medicine – A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care published by the New York University Press.
She claims that African Americans and Latinos suffer from unconscious racial and ethnic biases by physicians, institutional providers and even the patients themselves. This implicit bias often leads to unintentional stereotyping and disparate care from Caucasians.
Matthew is a lawyer, law professor and health-care analyst. She is a professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School and the Colorado School of Public Health. This year she also is in Washington, D. C. as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow. She also has co-founded the Colorado Health Equity Project.
Matthew claims that unconscious and unintentional racism is the single most important determinant in health care disparities. She says that unjust and avoidable discrimination based upon race and ethnicity alone is a fundamental cause of destructive and even deadly health disparities between races.
Matthew proves her thesis with a study of our history of health care and an analysis of current health care procedures and patient interactions.
She also notes that even in 2016 that infant mortality is twice the rate among African American women than white women – even at the upper ends of the socio-economic scales.
Matthew suggests that legal action needs to be taken to rectify these disparities. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 could be an effective legal tool for eradicating racial and ethnic bias in health care, she claims.
She also says that the Affordable Care Act contains the first civil rights provision that specifically prohibits discrimination in health care. It also should be used to erase the disparities and eradicate the implicit racism, according to Matthew.

Clean“Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Boy” Answers Critical Questions

In an era when young men often feel “entitled” in sexual matters and sexual assaults on college campuses are rising, Dr. Andrew Smiler tries in his new book, Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Boy, to aim straight talk to young teenage boys. He tries to establish personal responsibility early in a boy’s development.
He felt that no one was talking directly to teen boys about relationships, sex in a technological age and what puberty and adolescence means in the 21st century.
“There was no other book that I found that was written specifically for teenage boys,” Dr. Smiler says. Therefore, I targeted a specific audience.”
Dr. Smiler is a licensed therapist and an expert on boys, men and masculinity. He has been featured in the New York Times and has written for the Huffington Post, Shriver Report, Everyday Feminism and the Good Men Project (featuring issues of sexually abused men.)
He is the associate editor for the Journal of Psychology of Men and Masculinity and served as President of the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity.
He has targeted this new book for 13 to 16 year old boys and has sprinkled the book with humor cartoon-like illustrations. The book does not read like a textbook. Instead, it is designed for readers to skip around in the book and read sections they have particular interests in or questions about.
The first 13 pages of the book are “Frequently Asked Question” and their answers. Then the book is divided into three sections: Relationships, Pleasure and Sexual Behavior, and Puberty and Adolescence.
The book is contemporary and talks, in depth, about sexting and sexual roles and orientation. It also talks about sexual realities, the fluidity of sexuality and discusses sexual stereotyping.
The text specifically addresses issues of “consent” and what constitutes consent. It also discusses “withdrawal of consent.”
Dr. Smiler’s text also highlights the problem of sexual abuse of boys. He notes that some studies say as many as 1 in 4 males are sexually assaulted at some point in life and other studies say 1 in 6 are abused prior to age 18. He talks frankly to boys who might be potential victims or who already have been victimized.
A review of the book states: “Written for teen boys, Dating and Sex provides them with the knowledge they need to understand dating, relationships, and sex. If goes beyond basic descriptions of biological processes with a progressive, practical approach they relies on secular ethics and emphasizes sexual health and personal responsibility. The book addresses common questions about what’s typical, provides a framework for dating and sex that fits their values and identity, and helps boys identify what feels right for them in a variety of common situations.”

As the presidential polls tighten and September nears an end, SPECTRUM gets a political update from a non-partisan expert on American politics and elections. Kyle Kondik, author of a new book – The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President (published by the Ohio University Press) -- speaks about what each candidate needs to do to win in the last month of the campaign.
Kondik noted the unique nature of this race.
Donald Trump needs to win traditionally Republican states but also needs to win some states that were previously won by President Barrack Obama. He needs to not only win regular Republican votes but also must grab Democrats or Independents who feel disenfranchised, according to Kondik. He is spending a great deal of time in traditionally Democratic areas.
Hillary Clinton needs to hold the states won by President Obama but also draw to her campaign educated Republicans and especially college educated Republican women, Kondik adds.
Kondik places states into four groups to watch as predictors of the outcome of the race.
The first group is states that Republicans normally win – like Arizona and Georgia. The question is can Trump hold these states and what will be the roles of African-American and Latino voters in those states. At this point, he says Clinton’s campaign has a shot in these states but it is remote. If she wins either state, Kondik says it is significant.
Kondik also thinks Trump will win Iowa – a state with a large white population without college degrees and he believes Trump also will take the 2nd Congressional District in Maine for the same reason. Iowa had gone for President Obama in the past.
The third state grouping is what is traditionally called the “battleground states” of Ohio, Florida, Nevada, and North Carolina. Both candidates target these as “must-win” states.
Finally, to win, Kondik believes that Trump must maintain his Republican base and get Democratic crossover votes in Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Clinton’s selection of Sen. Tim Kaine from Virginia has helped her chances in that important state, says Kondik.
Kondik also notes that up to one-third of the electorate will take part in early voting this year which means the status of the campaign in early October will take on greater significance than in the past. Therefore, public reaction to the first two debates (Sept. 26 and Oct. 9) could be vital to each candidate’s chances.

CleanLife of Civil Rights Leader Revealed by Historian and Documentarian

Dr. Amina Hassan, an independent historian and award-winning public radio documentarian, recently authored a new book Loren Miller—Civil Rights Attorney and Journalist, published by the University of Oklahoma Press.
Loren Miller was an attorney who also practiced journalism and owned his own newspaper, the California Eagle, one of the longest running African American newspapers in the west. He also was deeply involved with the L.A. Sentinel.
As a journalist, Miller was an outspoken advocate for civil rights issues and as an attorney, he worked with noted attorney Thurgood Marshall on key civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and he also represented minority groups in California.
Miller worked against internment of Japanese American citizens in World War II. He helped integrate parts of the U. S. Military and the Los Angeles Fire Department. He also defended Black Muslims and took on issues facing the Latino population in Southern California.
The son of a slave, Miller was originally raised in a bi-racial home in the Midwest before spending the bulk of his professional career in the Los Angeles area. He was appointed judge of the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1964.
Hassan became interested in writing about Miller because, at one time, Miller represented Hassan’s father in a civil rights matter when Hassan’s dad was denied service at a Los Angeles dinner.
Hassan, as a radio documentarian, has had productions for National Public Radio – including a series on how race, class and gender shape American sport. She also covered the United States’ invasion of Grenada and did an NPR series on the Bill of Rights.
Throughout her career, Hassan has been committed to social, cultural, gender and foreign policy issues. She has travelled and lived in the Caribbean, the Near Middle East, North African, Central American and Europe.
She has been a consultant to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and handled radio projects for the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution and the Washington D.C. based research center the Institute for Policy Studies.
Hassan received her undergraduate degree from the University of California in Berkley, her master’s degree in telecommunication and her doctorate in rhetorical criticism from Ohio University.

CleanWhy are Black Women NOT Elected to Statewide Offices Throughout the Nation?

There are only two black women in the nation who hold statewide elective executive offices, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Spectrum wants to know why.
Although there are numerous women of color elected to state and federal legislative offices, the numbers don’t translate to statewide executive offices, according to Dr. Kira Sanbonmatsu, senior scholar at the Center for American for American Women in Politics.
She points to several reasons for this paucity of statewide public officeholders of color. First, she says legislative districts are usually more minority based than statewide populations – therefore, making it easier to win in a select district.
Secondly, she notes that black women may have fewer campaign resources available than white women and men, thereby limiting spending amounts in campaigns.
Also, the majority of black women candidates are Democrats, according to Sanbonmatsu, and Republicans recently have been making greater strides in controlling statehouses.
Finally, she said there are often racial and gender stereotypes working against black female candidates among the electorate.
Spectrum also talked with two African-American women politicians in the swing-state of Ohio to get their perspectives: former State Senator Nina Turner who ran unsuccessfully for Sec. of State in 2014 and Judge Gayle Williams-Byers, an elected judge in Ohio from a diverse district.
Both found it unacceptable that in 2016 there have been no black women governors and such a small number of statewide officeholders across the nation. This is especially true, they say, since African-American women and other women of color constitute the largest voting constituency in the country.
“We get everyone else elected but ourselves,” said Sen. Tuner.
Both Judge Williams-Byers and Sen. Turner confirmed that it has been difficult for black women candidates to raise the kind of money that is needed to be successful in winning a statewide office. They don’t get the same amount of money as white candidates.
They also agreed that they face a “double whammy” of being black and being women when running statewide. However, they spoke of more difficulty confronting racial issues than gender bias.
Often, negative stereotypes are used against African American women as being ineffective and just plain angry. Passion for equality and fairness is often mischaracterized as being just an “angry black woman,” says Sen. Turner.
When asked what it will take to change the current status of so few black women in statewide offices, both agreed: 1) Consciousness of the problem of under-representation, 2) commitments from individuals and party leaders to getting black women elected, and 3) consequences for failing to grabble with this overarching problem.

Why do powerful and famous men sexually act-out, often repeatedly, in ways that most people find inappropriate and that are risky to their careers and families? Why do they risk it all? We see headlines and inevitably ask those questions.
SPECTRUM spoke with two experts to try to find the reasons. Dr. Steven Gold is a psychology professor at Nova Southern University and is the founder of the highly regarded Trauma Resolution and Integration Program. Christopher Anderson is the Executive Director of the national advocacy organization MaleSurvivor, a group benefitting men who have been victimized by sexual abuse.
There is definitely a linkage between power and the sexual escapades we have seen repeatedly in the headlines involving numerous men such as Pres. John F. Kennedy, Pres. Lyndon Johnson, Sen. Gary Hart, Pres. Bill Clinton, Sen. John Edwards, Tiger Woods and Congressman Anthony Weiner – to name a few.
Our experts say that high-achieving men often have a form of narcissism and certainly a feeling of entitlement to act-out sexually as they please without consideration of risks or consequences. There is often a direct link between power and authority and the inner feeling of sexual entitlement.
The fact that some powerful men seem not to be able to stop these objectionable behaviors – regardless of the severe consequences--leads to a discussion of sexual addiction or compulsive sexual behavior. Our experts say that this form of addiction is the necessity of “continuing to do something regardless of the consequences.” In short, they are not able to stop the aberrant behavior regardless of the risks.
Both Dr. Gold and Anderson quickly stress that this form of addiction or compulsion is NOT an excuse for the activities but instead is an explanation for the repeated nature of bad behavior. The acting-out may be a form of self-medication for the perpetrator similar to alcohol or drug abuse.
“Trauma” also is a critical element in finding the reasons for this sexual acting-out and its results.
In addition to a sense of entitlement and addictive behaviors, both Dr. Gold and Anderson say past “trauma” may be an underlying reason for the perpetrator’s behavior. Past trauma may be the underpinning for a feeling of present entitlement.
Trauma also alters the behavior and life of the victims. Dr. Gold studies both aspects of trauma: trauma as the “bad” event and trauma as the result of the bad event. Academic research has been slow to study the sexual impacts of trauma but, according to Dr. Gold, research is becoming more active in this critical area of study.

Paul Chimera, a 1971 Ohio University journalism graduate, is a writer, teacher, journalist and one of the world’s foremost experts on the Spanish artist Salvador Dali.
In March, Chimera’s latest book about Dali was published – Dali and His Doctor: The Surreal Friendship Between Salvador Dali and Dr. Edmund Klein.
Chimera became interested in this friendship after the widow of Dr. Klein contacted Chimera and told him of a special relationship between Dali and Dr. Klein.
Dr. Klein was a skin cancer researcher and expert. He was contacted by Dali to treat some type of skin condition. Over the next eight years (1972-1980), the pioneer in surrealism and the pioneer in medicine met and worked together, according to Chimera.
Each time they met Dali would make a drawing or a sketch for Dr. Klein. Klein did not charge Dali a fee and Dali repaid him with original drawings. The drawings were signed and dedicated to Dr. Klein, whom Dali called his Guardian Angel.
The drawings were all kept in a safety deposit box at a bank. Dr. Klein’s widow asked Chimera to inspect the art, catalogue the art, get it appraised and sell it.
As a result of this unique relationship, Chimera wrote his new book which is for sale through online book distributors.
Chimera currently teaches Writing and Public Relations at Daeman College. He also has his own editing and freelance business called Chimera Communications.
He has written two previous books about writing: "Nuts, Bolts and Anecdotes: Journalists Discuss Interviewing and Note-Taking in Their Own Words" and "Winning With the News Media: Simple Steps to Better Press Relations".
Chimera has been a writer/columnist with the Salvador Dali Society of Redondo Beach, California and was the former publicity director of the Original Dali Museum of Beachwood, Ohio. The museum permanently relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida in 1982.

Pauline Frederick was a broadcasting pioneer. She was the first woman to be heard as a reporter for network radio in the late 1940’s as she covered the Nuremburg trials of Nazi war criminals.
She was the first woman reporter to appear on network television covering the 1952 political conventions and her career in broadcasting spanned over three decades. She covered the founding of the United Nations, Fidel Castro’s first trip to the United States, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis among other major events.
In addition to being a network radio and television reporter from the 1940’s through the 1970’s, Frederick ended her career by joining a fledgling radio network in the late 1970’s called NPR.
Ms. Frederick’s career has been brought to life in a new biography, Pauline Frederick Reporting: A Pioneering Broadcaster Covers the Cold War, written by Professor Marilyn Greenwald of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.
The book, published by Potomac Books, was released just last month in January 2015.
This is Greenwald’s fourth biography of journalistic giants.
Greenwald talked about her latest book and the personal life and career of Frederick with Spectrum's Tom Hodson.

Christopher Anderson is the executive director of a national organization called MaleSurvior – an organization dedicated to assisting and advocating for men who have suffered some form of sexual abuse.
Sexual abuse of males is a major issue and it often is under-reported, according to Anderson
He notes that, at least, one out of every six American males are sexually abused before they reach the age of 18. Some statistics have the number even higher.
Often males do not come forward and disclose their abuse for fear of the ramifications of disclosure. This often results in lifelong battles with self-esteem, problems with intimacy and relationships, addiction issues, PTSD and other forms of self-loathing and sometimes self-destruction.
Anderson, himself a survivor of sexual abuse, heads MaleSurvivor which is dedicated to helping men with issues originating with abuse.
MaleSurvivor has a new website – www.malesurvivor.org which features discussion boards and chat rooms where survivors can talk with one another about issues they confront. It also provides access to resources where abused males can receive help and counseling.
MaleSurvivor also sponsors Weekends of Recovery, across the country, where survivors gather with other survivors to begin healing – under the watchful eyes of therapists and counselors.
Anderson and MaleSurvivor also advocate against sexual abuse of males and they attempt to enlighten the public about the terrible ramifications of this type of abuse. Both Anderson and MaleSurvivor were quite vocal in the Penn State sexual abuse controversy involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Anderson also tours the country speaking to various groups and the news media to raise awareness of the life-long ramifications of male sexual abuse.

Sonja Williams has always loved music and that led her to award-winning public radio shows. She now is a professor in the Department of Media, Journalism, and Film at Howard University and just penned her first book.
She has amassed an amazing body of work in broadcast and print since receiving her master’s degree in Communication from at Ohio University.
During her career Williams has received three prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards for Significant and Meritorious Achievement for groundbreaking music programming and audio documentaries for National Public Radio, Public Radio International and the Smithsonian Institution.
She created a 26 part audio documentary called Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions, Black Radio: Telling It Like it Was and NPR’s Making the Music with Wynton Marsalis.
Williams talks with Spectrum's Tom Hodson about her early days in radio and how she was able to marry her love for music with her passion for audio storytelling.
Williams has now turned her career to print.
She discusses her new book, Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio and Freedom, just published in 2015 by the University of Illinois Press. It is a biography about a “gifted broadcast dramatist, journalist and activist” – who lived from 1917 to 1984.
He wrote radio dramas in the 1940’s and had a radio series called Destination Freedom.
In addition to his radio work, he was an investigative reporter for the Chicago Defender, wrote television shows and ghost-wrote Muhammad Ali’s book The Greatest.
Durham was posthumously induced into the National Radio Hall of Fame in his hometown of Chicago.
Williams discusses, in depth, the book and her legendary career in public broadcasting.

Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, founding Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Dr. Rober S. Litwak, Vice President for Scholars and Director of International Security Studies at the Wilson Center give their assessments of the multi-national nuclear agreement with Iran -- on its one-year anniversary.
The agreement, according to Litwak, is meeting its intended purpose of keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. But, the agreement has not addressed the internal human rights violations escalating in Iran. It was not intended to do so, according to Litwak. However, there is general misunderstanding of the general public about the extent and terms of the agreement.
The nuclear accord is a 15 year agreement that was limited to releasing embargoed Iranian funds in exchange for Iran not developing nuclear weapons and appropriate safeguards. The agreement did not address human rights concern.
While the U.S. and other countries are focusing on the limitations on nuclear weaponry, battling factions in Iran keep escalating human rights abuses, according to Esfandiari. She notes many people with dual citizenship are being targeted for detainment and arrests for “causing confusion in the public mind” and “spreading lies”.
Esfandiari, herself, was arrested by Iranian authorities in 2007 and kept in solitary confinement for 105 days.
In Iran, the Revolutionary Guards, who are responsible for most arrests, are not accountable to the President. Instead, they have allegiance to the Supreme Leader. The two factions have opposite purposes. Currently, there is about one execution per day in Iran, according to Esfandiari.
Litwak says America’s relationship with Iran is complex. Despite the human rights violations, the United States is not only trying to limit Iran’s weaponry but also is aligning with the Iranian government to fight ISIS in Iraq.
Litwak formerly served on the National Security Council staff in the first Clinton Administration as Director of Non-proliferation.

The winning presidential candidate has won Ohio in 28 of the past 30 elections – stretching back to 1896, according to Kyle Kondik, the author of a new book The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President.
Ohio is not only a “swing state” but better than all other states in predicting the final outcome of presidential elections. In short, how Ohio votes overwhelmingly tells you how the nation has voted. Ohio has a better record than any other state, according to Kondik.
His new book, published by the Ohio University Press, examines why Ohio is such a predictor of winning presidential elections. Kondik cites three predominant reasons: 1) Ohio bests any other state in voting for the winner; 2) Ohio’s results most often reflect national voting averages and 3) Ohio has given the decisive electoral votes to winning candidate more than any other state.
For a long time, Ohio has been touted as being a microcosm of America and therefore, seen as the predictor state. Kondik thinks that is still true for 2016 but does note that Ohio has less than the national average of Hispanic and Asian voters. He wonders if that will impact the final vote in this state this year.
Kondik notes that Ohio garners a huge percentage of candidates’ time in the general election. In 2012, he cites that all four presidential and vice-presidential candidates made 250 campaign stops during the election and 70 were in Ohio. Ohio would account for nearly 28 percent of all campaign appearances by candidates.
Finally, Kondik says that being the target of candidates and a bellwether state has produced and economic boom for some local television stations. One station in the Columbus market reportedly received nearly $50 million in political advertising in 2012.
Kondik, an Ohio native and graduate of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, is currently the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan political tipsheet produced by the University of Virginia Center for Politics. He is considered a national expert on elections and election analysis.

A black woman who is a mother of a teenage son, a former prosecutor and a current judge, a Muslim immigrant, and a gay man of Nepalese heritage each have their own daily struggles confronting escalating fear, hate and racism in American.
All three tell their extremely personal stories to Spectrum. All three people have different perspectives but all have similar and sometimes shocking stories of being targeted.
Judge Gayle Williams-Byers of S. Euclid, Ohio speaks from three different perspectives: as a mother, as a former prosecutor (who worked daily with law enforcement) and now as a judge.
She has a 16 year-old son who is just learning to drive. “Judge Gayle” (as she likes to be called) tells how she instructs her son upon going out with his friends to “just come home alive.” She also says that with escalating violence and racism, that Americans are holding a “stick of dynamite in our hands – and it is lit and burning.”
Judge Gayle describes her fears as a mother of a black male teenager and makes some suggestions about how some of today’s racial tensions might be alleviated through less combative forms of policing.
The Muslim immigrant speaks of almost constant harassment and public abuse of his family just because of their identification with the Muslim religion.
After the Orlando mass shootings, he and his family were forced to stay in their home because of fear of some form of public retribution.
One of his children was chased by other children at school as they screamed “Isis” at the young child.
However, even with all of this, he and his family love America and they are hopeful that the situation for Muslims in the United States will improve.
Finally, a gay man of color, Atish Baidya, talks about what it is like constantly to feel “different.” He describes how increasingly as a society we treat certain people and minority groups as “less than human.”
In many of his comments, he sounds pessimistic whether racial tensions and class divides will get much better in America.

On this episode of "Spectrum", Tom Hodson talks with Ira Flatow, the host and executive editor of Science Friday on NPR.
Flatow’s career dates back to 1969 and he has spent over four decades as an award winning television and radio host of science oriented programming. He also is an author of several books.
Recently, he talked with us about science and making it understandable to the average citizen. He said that people love science but concepts need to be made real for people to integrate them in their daily lives.
In addition to “Science Friday,” Flatow heads a non-profit organization called Science Friday Initiative that provides numerous educational materials to help people understand difficult scientific concepts. Much of the information is digital and Flatow says they have even developed a phone app to add to the myriad of other learning opportunities.

Wesley Lowery covers Black Lives Matter, law enforcement and justice for the Washington Post. He has become a national expert on police shootings.
The Washington Post, for the first time in history, is keeping statistics on police shootings in the U.S. As of today, 522 citizens have been shot and killed by police in 2016. Of that group, 128 people were blacks, according to Lowery.
That is about one shooting death per day of a black person by police, Lowery says.
“Blacks make up between 12 and 13 percent of the population yet they account for nearly 25 percent of the deaths by police shootings,” Lowery says.
“American citizens are killed by police about three times a week,” Lowery notes. In 2015, the Washington Post found 990 police shootings resulting in deaths. This year, reporters expect over 1,000 deaths, according to Lowery. By comparison, police are killed by gunshots at a rate of about one per week.
Mental illness and traffic stops are two common threads to the shootings of blacks by police. About 1 in 4 people killed by police have some form of mental illness and are not hospitalized. This means that often police officers are forced to become “social workers with guns,” Lowery says. Also, repeated traffic stops often have created situations that have triggered shootings.
Lowery was part of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize team at the Washington Post for “Breaking News.” He was also given the 2014 “Emerging Journalist of the Year” award by the National Association of Black Journalists. In 2015, he was given the “Best Journalist” Shorty Award for his use of social media.
He has written reports for the Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Columbus Dispatch. His political analysis has been published in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe and several online publications.
This November, his new book, They Can’t Kill Us All: The Story of #blacklivesmatter, is expected to be published by Little, Brown and Company.
Lowery is spending this week covering “outside” demonstrations at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Lowery is an alumnus of the Scripps College of Communication and the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.

Sean Peoples is an award-winning international film producer who documents strong and compelling personal stories and weaves them with major global issues and policy questions. It is a unique form of storytelling.
Until recently, Peoples was a multimedia producer/program associate at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where he spent 9.5 years. He is now a producer at Think Out Loud Productions.
Peoples has been heralded by The New York Times as one of a “new generation of visual communicators who are breaking down conventional definitions of media.”
People’s latest film, Broken Landscape: Confronting India’s Water-Energy Choke Point, premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in 2015. Since then, it has been selected for a number of film festivals including the Athens International Film + Video Festival.
The film focuses on the battle between coal mining and water quality in a remote area of India. It features the human stories behind a battle between clean and safe resources and jobs and economic survival.
It has won numerous awards including a Silver Telly Award where it was selected for recognition from over 12,000 entries.
Recently it was shown on CNN India to over 54 million viewers.

On this episode of Spectrum, we’re talking with Gwen Ifill, Moderator and Managing Editor of Washington Week on PBS and co-anchor and co-managing editor for PBS NewsHour. She also is an author. She talks about her career, race and politics.
Before coming to PBS, Ifill worked at a number of stellar news outlets, including the Boston Herald American, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and NBC News.
Ifill also became a best-selling author in 2009 with the publication of her book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.
“A journalist’s role, a true journalist – not just someone who’s there to stir the pot – is to try to find out more, to have people walk away thinking ‘I didn’t know that, I know more now’. And everybody doesn’t rise to that level”, says Ifill.

Martin Walker, a noted journalist and author, says that nothing is going to move quickly in the United Kingdom after the recent Brexit vote to leave the European Union. He does not think that any official action will take place until at least September when a new Prime Minister is sworn into office.
Walker also reminded Americans that the British popular vote is “not necessarily binding.” Parliament will actually have to vote to withdraw from the EU following the referendum. He says many are hoping that “cooler heads will prevail” and that Parliament will not take action to leave.
He also noted that, to date, 4 million signatures have been submitted to Parliament asking for a new referendum on the issue. Parliament is required to debate the issue of a second vote.
Walker says he agrees with President Barack Obama’s recent comments that we should just hit the “pause key” on the current hysteria surrounding the withdrawal vote.
Walker is a veteran journalist who spent some 28 years with The GUARDIAN, a British newspaper, in various reporting and editing capacities – including being US Bureau Chief.
He also appeared for many years on the Diane Rehm weekly News Round-Up on NPR.
In addition, Walker authors murder mystery novels set in his current home region of France.
While on a book tour of the United States, Martin talked with WOUB’s Tom Hodson about Brexit and its domestic and global ramifications.

A Jewish Bible scholar and an African American pastor joined in an intellectual and spiritual journey of faith and scholarly inquiry. The result is they say they uncovered the truth about one of the most coveted prayers in the Christian world – the “Lord’s Prayer” and its Hebrew origins.
On this episode of Spectrum, Tom Hodson talks with world renowned Jewish scholar, Nehemiah Gordon, about his discovery of a Hebrew version of the Lord's Prayer.
On a journey to Israel in 2002, Methodist Pastor Keith Johnson, of the Park Avenue Church in Minneapolis, met with world renowned scholar Nehemia Gordon. This started a long-term relationship and research partnership that resulted in a book A Prayer To Our Father: Hebrew Origins of the Lord’s Prayer.
They discovered a Hebrew version of the Lord's Prayer, preserved by Jewish rabbis for over a thousand years, according to Gordon. Working from the original languages of early texts, the two men translated the texts and found much commonality in most of the traditional forms of the prayer.
In its early forms, the prayer could have been as easily used in the Jewish faith as in the Christian faith, according to Gordon. They found that the prayer has a universal adherence to tenets in both faiths.
On this episode of Spectrum, Gordon describes the partnership with Johnson, their work together, and the outcomes of their research.
Gordon holds a master’s degree in Biblical Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Archaeology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has worked as a translator on the Dead Sea Scrolls and as a researcher of ancient Hebrew manuscripts.
Gordon's website, NehemiasWall.com, is dedicated to uncovering ancient Hebrew sources of faith and is full of informative videos, podcasts and blog posts.
Johnson, besides being an elder, also served as chaplain to the Minnesota Vikings and has ministered to top athletes in the NFL and NBA.

Comic Paula Poundstone, a regular panelist on NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me,” spent 30 minutes with Tom Hodson stating her opinions on multiple topics from computers, to writing, to her style of comedy, to unusual dog breeds.
Besides being a Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me regular, Poundstone had a role in last year’s Pixar movie “Inside Out.” She also is currently writing her second book to be published by Algonquin next January.
While doing all that, she still travels the country doing her unique form of stand-up. She said in every show about one-third of it is improvised with interactions between her and her audience.
“I never do the same show twice,” Poundstone said. “Every performance is different and unique. It is very interactive.”
Poundstone joked that she has the worst record on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me quizzes because her competitors “cheat” and are on “steroids.” She says her preparation for the show is in direct relationship to the upheavals at her home in a given week. If things are in turmoil then she doesn’t prepare as much as when things are going smoothly, she added.
On a serious note, she decries the use of computers in elementary schools and says that we have become “addicted” to electronics. She says that this reliance has a negative impact on children and their brains.
Poundstone also described her writing technique and how writing a book is different and much more difficult than writing comedy routines.
Poundstone has had an illustrious career. She was the first woman to win the cable ACE Award for Best Stand-up back in 1992 and in 1993, she was the first woman to perform standup at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
She has been recognized as one of Comedy Central’s 100 greatest stand-ups of all time and in 2010, she was selected for the Comedy Hall of Fame.

Ira Glass, the award-winning creator and host of This American Life, will be in Athens at 7:30 p.m. March 12th at Templeton Blackburn Memorial Auditorium to present “An Evening with Ira Glass: Reinventing Radio.”
Recently, he chatted with WOUB’s Tom Hodson about creating radio content, audio storytelling and the mechanics of putting together a weekly national radio program.
He talked about the early days of This American Life, being highly selective about stories they choose to air, and the explosive popularity of podcasting.
This American Life is celebrating its 20th year on public radio. It is a mixture of entertainment and news, according to Glass. It is designed to present riveting stories based upon weekly themes.
Selecting great stories to broadcast is a key factor to success, Glass says. He notes that they kill up to 50 percent of the stories they begin and instead concentrate on those that have the most potential to highly engage the audience.
Glass says that he is thrilled about the popularity of podcasting and added that Serial, a podcast series created and produced by This American Life staffers, has the record of being the most listened to podcast in history.
Currently, This American Life is heard by 2.2 million radio listeners per week on more than 500 radio stations. When podcasts are added to the total, more than 5 million people listen to each show. Glass points out that these are higher numbers than most television programs or cable networks.
This American Life, distributed through PRX (Public Radio Exchange) has won the highest awards in broadcasting – including five Peabody Awards.
In 2009, Glass received the coveted Edward R. Murrow Award for Outstanding Contributions. He earned a George Polk Award in Radio Reporting in 2011 and was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in November 2014.
Glass began his radio career in 1978 at age 19 as an intern at National Public Radio. He then got a full-time job at NPR where he worked as a reporter, producer, and guest host for Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation and Weekend All Things Considered.
Glass was reared in Baltimore Co. Maryland. He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University where he studied semiotics – what causes stories to create certain emotions in readers and listeners.

Ken Ehrlich is a master of music media and his brilliant 50 year career was honored recently by the Scripps College of Communication with this year’s Hall of Fame Award.
He graduated in 1964 with a degree in Journalism. He met his wife while a student at Ohio University while he was playing cocktail piano at a local tavern on Court Street called the Lantern.
After working in Chicago during his early career, he started producing the national Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) music series SOUNDSTAGE.
Ehrlich then moved to Los Angeles and for 38 years he has produced over 1,000 hours of award winning television events including 36 straight Grammy Awards shows and 7 Emmy Broadcasts.
During the Emmy’s, Ehrlich is known for combining musical stars and acts who have never performed together before. He prides himself in creating these unique musical combinations and he tells WOUB’s Tom Hodson about how he goes about doing that.
In addition to awards programs, he spent two years as the Supervising Producer of the television dramatic series FAME. Ehrlich also has produced single artist television specials for Paul McCartney, Elton John, Garth Brook, The Eagles, Michael Jackson, Shania Twain, Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones and Celine Dion.
In 2011, he directed Celine Dion’s long running Las Vegas Show.
He created the Blockbuster Video Awards and the MTV Movie Awards and the VH1 Divas shows. He also produced several Alma and Latin Grammy Awards Shows.
His company, AEG Ehrlich Ventures LLC has produced the popular PBS In Performance At the White House.
In 2014, he produced the Grammys on one day and then 24 hours later did a 2.5 hour special for CBS celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Beetles’ first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
This past December, he produced a 2 hour special celebrating the 100th birthday of Frank Sinatra.
Throughout his career he also has had a social conscience. He created an HBO special in 1988 paying tribute to Vietnam Vets; he created an epic celebration when Nelson Mandela was released from prison and he helped raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims.
He also has donated his time and his immense skills to charitable and political causes that are “dear to his heart.”

Susan Reimer, a 1973 alumna of the School of Journalism, had a career full of variety and a career that paved new paths until her retirement in June 2015 after 36 years with the Baltimore Sun.
She spent her career writing local news, sports, a twice-a-week column about being a mother and family life, a nationally syndicated column about politics and national affairs, a book, and feature articles about food and gardening.
Reimer is back on the Ohio University campus to receive the L. J. Hortin Distinguished Alumni Award issued by the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism.
Her notorious career started in Pittsburgh after her graduation from Ohio University. She worked for the Associated Press, the Pittsburgh Press and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Then, after spending a few months touring the country “in the back of a van,” she convinced the Baltimore Sun that she could write sports. That launched a 14 year career covering the Baltimore Orioles and the Baltimore Colts, among other major sporting events.
Reimer was one of the first female sports reporters in the nation to cover professional sports. She tells WOUB’s Tom Hodson about some of her run-ins with the crusty manager of the Orioles Earl Weaver and the satisfaction she received from her profession.
After writing and editing sports, Reimer turned to column writing – reporting about motherhood and family matters. She published a collection of her work in 1998 called Motherhood is a Contact Sport.
Reimer claims that her column was so popular because she had the ability to write about situations and emotions that other women endured and felt but never had the words to talk about.
When her column switched to one about politics and national affairs, she said she never ran out of ideas and was comfortable “writing with the big-boys.”
She attributes her writing skill and her confidence to lessons she learned while at Ohio University and working at The Post while on campus.

Customer Reviews

Great Conversations w/ Interesting People!

by
SocketsRecords

Through thoughtful engagement, Tom Hodson wrangles the most interesting bits out of every conversation. I'm excited to see those conversations packaged in his new SPECTRUM podcast. Please do subscribe if you can!

True to the Name

by
JCBullwinkle45

Fascinating conversation with a broad spectrum of guests. Hodson is skilled at getting candid responses from guests.

Interesting Interviews

by
DeliFresh83

Interesting interviews, particularly the one with Ira Glass of This American Life. Look forward to hearing more.